We Play for Blood
by sxevlbtch
Summary: "She knows you're watching, she can feel you out there."... What if River and Riddick shared a bond? That even though they had never met, they were somehow connected, and could see glimpses of each other? Set after Chronicles of Riddick in the Riddick (film) timeframe/ Firefly (tv show) timeframe. Rated M for later chapters.
1. There are bad days

What if River and Riddick shared a bond? That even though they had never met, they were somehow connected, and could see glimpses of each other? Set after Chronicles of Riddick in the Riddick (film) timeframe/ Firefly (tv show) timeframe. Like my other Riddick/Firefly crossovers, this one is going to have music woven through out the story.

Chapter 1: There are bad days, and then there are legendary bad days

Song: Sweet Dreams by Marilyn Manson

XXX

River's POV

_She watches as a flying predator swoops down and walks towards something…a hand…sticking out from underneath the rubble. It cautiously hobbles towards it. When the hand doesn't move it tentatively pecks at it, trying to see if it's something it can eat. It keeps pecking at it for a few moments before the hand grabs it by its throat. It struggles for a few moments before an audible crunch breaks its neck. _

**_Sweet dreams are made of these  
><em>****_Who am I to disagree?_**

_"__Don't know how many times I've been crossed off the list and left for dead. Guess when it first happens the day you were born… you're gonna lose count…. So this… this ain't nothing new." _

**_Travel the world and the seven seas  
><em>****_Everybody's looking for something_**

"RIVER!" Simon yells through the door to her room. "River, it's time to get up!"

Her eyes snap open at the sound of her brother's voice. She exhales and answers him as sweetly as she can. "She will be out in a minute _ge-ge_."

"Don't take too long, Jayne may eat all the food." He say through the door as she hears his footsteps retreating.

She begrudgingly sits up in bed and looks around the room for something to wear. She spies a dress hanging across the back of the chair and moves towards that. They had been on Serenity for almost two months now, and the ship had started to feel like home, but… Simon still looked at her as a thing to fix… instead of a person. At least she had her dreams.

She doesn't know when they started…the dreams… as far back as she can remember she has always seen…glimpses of different…things. Worlds, people…monsters. And a voice… always the same voice. She had never seen the man the voice belonged to, but it mattered little to her… the voice was the one thing that kept a shred of her sanity when she was in the Academy. The one constant she could hang on to when everything else seemed to be spinning out of her control.

She had tried to tell Simon about the voice, but he had insisted that her mind was manifesting it as a vestige of her childhood to act as a coping mechanism for the trauma she had suffered in the Academy. He tried to give her an anti-psychotic to help her sleep, but she never took them… she preferred the voice to the drug induced fog Simon constantly tried to push on her.

She finishes dressing by throwing on a pair of boots and quickly leaves her room. If she takes too long she knows that Simon or one of the others will just come looking for her. They all treat her like a porcelain doll…something fragile and barely held together. They would never tell her this, but she hears them… hears what they think of her…and other things.

But like the other voice, she can't tell Simon about them… the one's that seep into her mind when she's around people… he isn't ready to know about what _they _did to his sweet baby sister. And she isn't ready to embrace what they made her…yet.

She walks towards the common area, and can hear the crew's laughter getting louder as she draws closer. But this isn't the world she wants to be in right now…no, she's world's away from them by the time she gets into the common area… still thinking about that voice.

XXX

Riddick's POV

After what feels like an hour, I manage to free myself from the rubble on top of me. Every inch I move makes me feel like a fuckin' freight train hit me. At least four of my ribs are broken, and my left leg is twisted out of place and broken. Fuckin' Necros. Never could trust them to keep their word…and look where it's got me now. Stuck on NOT-FURYA.

I crawl up to the nearest ridge and peer over. The sun is so bright on this godforsaken planet I can barely distinguish anything from the purple I normally see. Just fuckin' great, another planet with terrible fuckin' sunlight.

I make out what appears to be water and I drag my sorry ass towards it. But when I get there the smell of sulfur is so intense I know I ain't goin' to be drinking this water any time soon. Figures. Least I don't need to worry about some predator I hear howling in the distance coming up and tryin' to take a drink while I'm here.

I move over to a small rock overhang to try and get some shelter from this blistering sun. I'm drained from the amount of energy it took to drag myself over here, and I figure I can at least sleep for a little bit before worrying about what might be out there.

It doesn't take long for sleep to creep over me…and even less time for the dreams to invade my mind. It's always the same… the same slip of a girl. I never see more than a few moments in the dreams…just enough to study her.

_She's standing in front of me… like she's waiting. Her hair is long and hangs down her back in soft waves. I can tell it's dark, but I couldn't tell what color because of my eyes. She's small…like Jack was…but you can tell her size is deceiving, that her willowy arms and legs are from conditioning, years and years of conditioning. Looks like the body of a dancer. And as I get closer to her she smiles…like she knows me. But her smell is what's the most unique… a perfect mix of blood, gunpowder, and cinnamon. It's intoxicating and I'd know that smell anywhere._

But that's all I get before the dreams end, and its fuckin' infuriating. When I wake up it's dusk, and I hear the sounds of howling in the distance. Need to set my leg if I am going to have any chance up against whatever is out there.

I move some rocks from a nearby crevice and break off a piece of my armor to bite down on as I move my leg into the crevice. Ain't the first time I have had to set my leg, and I know this is goin' to hurt like a bitch. In one quick motion I twist the leg back into place and pain is blinding as I bite down hard onto the metal, hard enough that I even taste blood in my mouth. But at least I won't have to crawl everywhere now.

There's a howl in the distance and I peer over the edge of the ridge nearby to see some type of predator in the distance. I see them perk their heads up and look in my direction.

Just great I am upwind of them. I quickly hobble back towards the sulfur water and submerge my body into it. Might be able to lose these things if I can hold my breath long enough for them to leave.

XXX

River's POV

Simon had tried to drug her again, and wasn't listening to her protestations. All he said was "It will help mei-mei," but she knew better. Now she's hiding in one of the ventilation shafts, hoping that her brother will eventually give up and go talk to Kaylee. She had been in there for nearly an hour when she begins to nod off into sleep… his voice filling her ears.

_She sees a planet…it's rocky and desolate. It clearly hasn't been inhabited for a number of years…and the rocks almost look more like ruins in some areas…they are ruins… maybe to gods long forgotten, she couldn't say._

**_Some of them want to use you  
><em>****_Some of them want to get used by you_**

_"__There are bad days, and then there are legendary bad days. This was shaping up to be one of those. Whole damn planet wanted a piece of me. Can't stay in the open. Can't risk another attack."_

_She sees flashes now… markings on walls… a stone dias… but it's jumbled. His words and thoughts are focused on something else. _

**_Some of them want to abuse you  
><em>****_Some of them want to be abused_**

_"__It's always the punch you don't see coming that puts you down. But why didn't I see it? But why didn't I see it? Of course they were gonna try and kill me. Death is what they do for a living. So the question ain't "What happened?" The question is "What happened to me?"_

_And now the dream is frenetic… images and voices flash in her brain before she can fully comprehend what she is seeing. Grey warships… space…. dark planets… dead eyes…. daggers… blood._

**_I wanna use you and abuse you  
><em>****_I wanna know what's inside you_**

_"__Some wanted to put a crown on my head. Some wanted to put a noose around my neck."_

_"…__So what is the best way to a man's heart?"_

_"__Between the fourth and fifth rib. That's where I usually go. I'll put a twist at the end if I wanna make sure…"_

**_I'm gonna use you and abuse you  
><em>****_I'm gonna know what's inside_**

_And now she feels it… feels the dagger pierce his side. But it's not between the fourth and fifth… it's the fifth and sixth… body cavity… but it still hurts none the less._

She wakes up to screaming and hands grabbing at her. Her mind is still disoriented and she doesn't know what's going on. It takes her a minute to realize that she's the one screaming. But that's when she sees who's trying to pull her out…back into the light of Serenity's hallway… and who's waiting nearby.

"NO! NO!" She screams and shrieks as she flails around.

"Gorramit Moonbrain! STOP!" Jayne screams back at her as he tries to yank her out of the ventilation shaft with Mal. She can see Simon standing nearby with a syringe of what she expects to be a sedative.

"NO! You can't just dig into me, shove twenty needles in my eyes and ask me what I see!"

"Shh, it's alright _mei-mei_. It's just something to help you sleep." Simon says as he comes forward and jabs the needle into her skin. She continues to flail though, now out of sheer annoyance at being drugged yet again.

"Stupid son of a bitch, dress me up like a gorramn doll!" She screams and thrashes around. "Don't make me…sleep…again." She says as the drugs take hold of her system and she's purged into a dreamless sleep.

XXX

After a few moments of the sedative in her system River stills and Mal and Jayne carry her to the infirmary, Simon following directly behind them. They set her on the exam table and Simon goes about prepping other meds for her.

"So, she's added sneaking about, cussing, and hitting people to her repertoire." Mal says as he watches Simon and glances at the unconscious River.

"She's liable to go wooly and kill us all in our sleep." Jayne says as he stands to Mal's right.

"Jayne." Mal says in a warning tone.

"What? Just speakin' plainly." He says as he huffs and leaves.

Mal waits until Jayne is out of earshot before he asks his next question. "Could she do that Doc?"

Simon exhales. "I don't think she's dangerous. One moment she seems perfectly cogent, the next...she speaks nonsense, like a child. So difficult to diagnose… this is just a bad day." He says as he injects another medication into her arm. He dabs a swab over the injection site and holds pressure on it for a few moments before turning back to his supplies.

"No, a bad day is when someone's yellin' spooks the cattle. Understand? You ever see cattle stampede when they got no place to run? It's kind of like a… a meat grinder. And it'll lose us half

the herd."

Simon loses his temper at this. "She hasn't gone anywhere near the cattle!"

"No, but in case you hadn't noticed, her voice kinda carries. We're two miles above ground and they can probably hear her down there. Soon as we unload, she can holler until our ears bleed. Though I would take it as a kindness if she didn't."

"This is paranoid schizophrenia, Captain. Hand-crafted by government scientists who thought my sister's brain was a rutting playground. I have no idea what'll set her off. If you have some expertise…"

"I'm not a doctor. And I'm not your gorramn baby-sitter, either. Gag her, if you have to. We got trade to be done." Mal says as he storms out of the infirmary.

XXX

AN: And I'm back with another Riddick/Firefly crossover! As I watched Riddick again, I really felt that if I wanted to use in in a fanfic, it would be better to start over and zero the clock, as Riddick would say. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this new fanfic. Reviews will be greatly appreciated ;)


	2. They think I'm crazy

AN: I was going to wait to post this next chapter, but I had a bad day and wanted to do something fun. So there you go, you all get to read a new chapter and hopefully review to cheer me up. Thank you to those who are embracing my new story so quickly. It give me all sorts of lovely feelings to see people favorite, follow, and review things when I write them. Special thanks to Rachet, Irishbrneyes, Shenandoah76209, Ashmo21, and Rainbor123 for the reviews on the first chapter (they made me smile like River). Now on with the show!

Chapter 2: They think I'm crazy

Song: My Demons by Starset

XXX

Riddick's POV

Mother fuckin' predators. Can't seem to catch a break when it comes to the fucked up things that want to kill me. First it was the bio-raptors on that shitty no-name planet, then the jackals here on not-Furya, and now… now its mud vipers too. But at least I know how to get out of this death trap of a valley. Just got to figure out a way past that viper pit.

I hobble along for an hour or so. Come across a couple of whether stone structures built into the walls of the valley I'm stuck in. There ain't nothin' but stones and bones in them though. Whole planet feels like a graveyard… At least I could cover my ass for awhile in one of these tombs. Just hope it didn't end up being my tomb as well.

Wasn't difficult to push down the stone dais to cover the crawl space, but it took what little energy I had left, even after catching some sleep earlier. I hobble over to small opening and squeeze myself in between the rocks. I use the last of my strengthen to pull the stone in closer together, and I can feel the fatigue straining my body.

Go figure…It's always the punch you don't see coming that puts you down. But why didn't I see it? But why didn't I see it? Of course they were gonna try and kill me. Death is what they do for a living. So the question ain't "What happened?" The question is "What happened to me?"

It's not a question I even need to put much thought into though as I feel myself drifting off to sleep. I know what I did wrong. Somewhere along the way, I lost a step. I got sloppy. Dulled my own edge. Maybe I went and did the worst crime of all... I got civilized. So now…now we zero the clock… Just me and this no-name world.

Gotta find that animal side again. But right now… right now I just need to sleep off some of this pain…

_She's there in my dreams again… this girl… standing there like she's waiting for something…someone. Looks like she's standing in a grassy plain… the wind's blowing her hair across her face and she's squinting like she's looking for something… it's like she sees something off in the distance and she smiles._

_She's walking towards me now…stops a few feet from where I assume I am._

_And the next part is what throws me, because in all the dreams, I've never heard her speak. _

_"Found you."_

XXX

River's POV

The only thing she felt when she woke up from her drug induced slumber was anger…blinding, all consuming anger. Not only for the fact that she was in the infirmary…but that they continued to treat her as a pincushion they could stick as many needles in as they wanted.

**_Mayday! Mayday!  
><em>****_The ship is slowly sinking._**

"They think I'm crazy…but they don't know the feeling." She says to herself.

Simon was no better than the Alliance… all he did is poke, prod, and probe with needles. Each of them wanted to make her something she couldn't be… she couldn't be the perfect weapon they could control… and she couldn't be the gorram innocent child Simon had known so long ago.

**_They're all around me,  
><em>****_Circling like vultures._**

But he wouldn't see that… couldn't see that. He'd continue to poke and prod. It didn't matter how many times she screamed no… he wouldn't listen.

"They wanna break me and wash away my colors." So she would have to make Simon listen, but she would need _his _help to do that.

She crept from the infirmary with ease. She could feel each mind on Serenity…all preoccupied with the cattle in the cargo… Cattle were stupid beasts…they weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are. But one thing they were was a useful distraction, and she calculated she would have at least twenty minutes alone on the bridge before anyone was the wiser that she had woken up.

The bridge was empty when she got there, and she quickly locked the entry so she could work in peace. She needed star charts, terraforming and topographic maps, something to give her a clue for where to start looking.

**_I can't stop this sickness taking over,  
><em>****_It takes control and drags me into nowhere_**

She spends ten of her twenty minute window racking her brain trying to find something to guide her, anything she had seen in her last few dreams. The rocks on the planet had been useful… but didn't narrow down her search to a small enough area to look in. She was frustrated and felt the anger seeping back into her brain… her hands were beginning to shake from anger and adrenaline and she knew she would have to stop looking soon, which just added to her frustration even more.

"I need your help… I can't fight this forever. She knows you're watching, she can feel you out there."

**_I need a savior to heal my pain,  
><em>****_When I become my worst enemy._**

Her time on the bridge was almost up though; Wash would be back soon, and she needed to leave before anyone suspected what she might be up to. She liked the crew of Serenity…at least a little, but she wasn't ready to deal with the fallout from them knowing what she was…what she could do. The fear and trepidation they had for her would just turn into fear and trepidation of her…and she still needed a plan to find _him. _Maybe then they would see she wasn't crazy. So she takes her leave of the bridge…after putting everything back in its place.

"After all, there's a place for everything, and everything in it's place..." She says to herself in a sing-song voice.

She walks through the hallways and towards the cargo bay, dancing along the way. Her body often ached to break into a dance now…and when she was alone she often indulged in this desire. But when she was around people… maybe she was afraid they would notice, notice that some of her movements weren't a dance of beauty, but of something else. Or maybe it would fuel their belief that she was broken. As Nietzsche said, "Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." Either way, it wasn't a skill that she liked to advertise. Let them think she was as weak as a kitten, while in truth she could rip them to shreds.

By the time she is in the cargo bay she has stopped dancing, and walks out into the sunshine while taking in her surroundings. The cattle are penned to the left of the cargo bay ramp, Kaylee and Inara are no where to be seen… but she can quickly trace their minds walking into town nearby_… _Wash walks past her on the cargo ramp back towards the bridge… while Zoe, Jayne, and Mal stand near the cattle.

"Nice to see you up and about River." A voice says from her right. She turns and sees Shepherd Book…who is a lie… walking towards her. He was the most interesting of the crew, because while the others minds screamed at her… his was often purposefully blank.

"Nothing venture, nothing gain." She says as she walks towards the cattle. She preferred to be around the Shepherd as little as possible… he could keep his broken book to himself, please and thank you, religion would not be a gauze to bandage her broken mind.

XXX

Mal and Jayne watch as River tentatively approaches the fence of the pen, and move towards her after only a few moments.

"C'mon, now. Let's get you clear of the work." Mal says as he tries to usher her away. "Don't need you spookin' the cattle or our customers."

River sends Mal an irritated glare, but he pays no attention.

"What's going on? What are you doing?" Simon says rushing up to them.

"I'm fixing to do some business. Can't be herding these steers and your sister, too."

Simon puts an arm protectively around River now. "She didn't mean any harm."

"I never figured she did. But when a man engages in clandestine dealings, he has his preference for things being smooth… She makes things not be smooth." The last bit of this is said with an air of haughtiness that Simon does not react well to.

"Right. I'm very sorry if she tipped off anyone about your cunningly concealed herd of cows." He says in retort.

Now Mal glares at Simon, while moving to guide him and River away from the corral. "I'm starting to think you got a little too much time on your hands, doctor. I think now I got a notion regarding that. Why don't you take your sister for a little walk."

This stuns Simon momentarily. "A walk?"

"Yeah. Someplace... away." Jayne offers up.

"Uh, probably best we stay close. Alliance has us marked as fugitives."

"Closest Alliance is the Cruiser Magellan. Hours out from here. And I promise you, they ain't coming to a backwater like Jiang."

"Still, I'm not sure it's such a wise suggestion."

"Might not wanna mistake it for a suggestion…Don't worry, we wouldn't leave without ya."

River scoffs. "Yes, you would." And trudges off towards the small town on this backwater planet.

"River!" Simon admonishes as he walks to catch up to her.

XXX

Riddick's POV

_I take a step towards her and she laughs. It's more like a giggle than a hearty laugh though... girlish, and innocent._

_"What do you mean, found me."_

_She giggles again, and her smile widens. "You were lost."_

_"Was I now? Not all those who wander are lost little girl."_

_"That's true, Strider…" She says as she spins in place like a dancer. The wind carries the smell of cinnamon to my nose._

_"And all that is gold does not glitter… but, regardless of that, she found you."_

_I feel a smile ghosting along my mouth now…there is just something about this girl that seems like some fun. "And what do you intend to do now?"_

_"She wants to play a game."_

_This piques my interest. "Really now, and what are we playing for?"_

_Again she laughs and steps towards me. It's the first time I notice she has something in her hand. She reaches her palm out towards me and presents a knife like the one I broke off into the Lord Marshall's head. _

When I wake up, its the middle of the night on not-Furya. I slowly slide the rock above me so that I can squeeze between the opening again. The pain in my leg has dulled to throbbing instead of blindly painful, and my ribs just have a dull ache. Got to love that fast healing.

But the armor I'm wearing is restricting my movements, so it's the first thing to go when I get out from the crawl space. My ribs ache as I take it off, but the lack of twenty additional pounds of armor makes it easier to breath and my ribs start to feel better after a few minutes without it on.

I set the armor aside… no use throwing away good metal if I can use it as an axe or a shiv. But first things first, need to find some drinkable water.

XXX

AN: Reviews are always appreciated, ;) Til' next time.


	3. Confusing what is real

AN: I have to say I am ridiculously happy at how much you guys like this new fanfic, it's making me all warm in fuzzy. Thank you to Ashmo21, Rachet, Irishbrneyes, relgirl, Dherea, and Shenandoah76209 for the reviews, you guys are amazing.

Anyways, quick preface for this fanfic moving forward, the different POV portions may not necessarily match up perfectly (meaning what River or Riddick sees/experiences could be past, present, or future in relation to the other one [think Memento-ish]). I'm doing this in order to not rush through the amount of time Riddick spends on not-Furya before River goes and finds him. Now on with the show!

Chapter 3: Confusing what is real

Song: Crawling by Linkin Park

XXX

Inara and Kaylee walk into the small General Store in town and begin looking at the knickknacks. Inara is clearly amused by the place while Kaylee looks at everything with a discerning eye.

"Does it seem every supply store on every 'water planet has the same five rag dolls and the same wood carvings of... what is this? A duck?" Inara says as she picks up one of the carvings?

"That's a swan." Kaylee says quickly. She looks at it another moment, as if deciding that her assumption is indeed correct. "I like it."

"You do?" Inara asks inquisitively.

Kaylee strokes the little wood carving now. "Looks like it was made with, you know, longing. Made by a person really longed to see a swan."

"Perhaps they'd only heard of them…by rough description." Inara says as she puts it down.

Kaylee turns and a decorative plate catches her eye. She holds it up and turns towards Inara to get her input. "You think this would make a nice gift?"

"A gift? For whom?"

"I just kinda like it…It's rich, you know?"

Now Inara realizes what Kaylee is asking. "Ooh. For Simon."

Kaylee blushes quickly. "I didn't say that."

Inara chuckles at the younger girl's innocence. "You don't do a very good job of hiding your interest."

Kaylee smiles at her friend. "He's just so _shuai_. You just wanna take a bite out of him all over, you know?"

The bell above the door makes its faint tingle and signals to the girls someone else has come in. Inara is facing the door and is quick to warn her friend her crush has just come inside.

"Careful." Inara indicates something behind Kaylee. Getting it, Kaylee turns to greet Simon and River, who have just entered the store.

XXX

River's POV

She needed a plan…and time to think without being interrupted, and she was not going to be able to do that with Simon watching her every step. She would have to lose him if she hoped to have any peace.

"Morning, you two." Kaylee says as they enter the store. She nods towards the sunshine and the Companion before moving towards the other side of the store. "Don't usually see you two out and about planet-side."

She feels Simon's interest in Kaylee pique as he moves towards her. "Yeah, we're... we're trying something different today." Hopefully Simon will be distracted enough by Kaylee and Inara that she can sneak back outside unnoticed.

She listens as her brother addresses Inara and Kaylee, asking them about their day so far, and she knows he isn't paying attention to her. Perfect. She moves stealthily towards the back of the store…where she knows from the owner's mind there is back door that leads to a small alley, because all the owner is think about is getting back to the bar when the 'customers' leave. She creeps over that way and pretends to be looking at some of the knickknacks over there before silently creeping out the back.

She closes the door behind her quickly, but careful to not make a sound. She then turns and walks towards the end of the alley. She reaches the street without anyone calling after her, and she calculates she will have another two minutes before Simon puts his foot in his mouth and makes himself into a boob in front of Kaylee. She walks casually down the alley, choosing to blend in instead of rush… people always notice someone rushing… and that's the last thing she needs right now.

XXX

Inara had skillfully extricated herself out of the conversation to allow her friend a moment to talk to her crush. A few moments went by before Simon started to fiddle with the plate Kaylee was looking at earlier as he is talking with her.

"Good god. They're asking money for this crap?" Simon says somewhat absentmindedly as he sets it back down after seeing its price.

Kaylee is somewhat crestfallen hearing this, but Simon is such a boob he doesn't notice. "Hard to believe ain't it? Glad you're out…Give you a chance to have a little fun." Kaylee says somewhat hopefully.

And this is where Simon puts his foot in his mouth, because despite his best effort to be cheerful, he's till annoyed by the Captain's attitude earlier. "Fun. Right, yeah. I, uh, I consider this fun. It's fun, being forced to the ass-end of the galaxy. To get to live on a piece of _luh-suh_ wreck. And to eat molded protein. And to be bullied around by our _boo-tai jung tzhang duh_ of a captain. It's fun."

_"__Luh-suh_?" Kaylee asks, hurt evidenced in her voice.

"Sorry?" Simon asks, not understanding what he's just said was hurtful.

Kaylee starts to move away from Simon now. "Serenity ain't _luh-suh_."

Simon's eyes widen as he realize what he's said. "No, I... I didn't mean…"

"Yeah you did. You meant everything you just said." Kaylee snaps at him.

"Well, no. Uh, actually I was being ironic, so in-in-in the strictest sense…" Simon says floundering before Kaylee cuts him off.

"You were being mean, is what…And if that's what you think of this life, then you can't think much of them that choose it, can you." With that Kaylee exits the store and Inara follows, giving Simon a significant, 'You screwed up,' look as she exits.

Simon sighs heavily, then turns around. River's nowhere to be seen. "River?"

XXX

Riddick's POV

I don't dream of her tonight. No, tonight is one of covering more… recent events.

_We land on the planet on a cliff overlooking a deep gorge, tall cliffs framing each side of it. As the docking ramp lowers, my nostrils are hit with the smell of arid land and a dry heat fills the fuselage. There's an electricity in the air, and I'm not sure if it's from my mind manifesting it…or something else. Either way, something is brewing. I descend the docking ramp quickly and walks towards the cliff to inspect the land. I hears their footsteps behind me as I kneel to feel the dirt. _

_"__It's a long way to come. For this." _

_There's something…off… about this planet, and as I smell the handful of dirt I pick up I realize what it is. Instead of Furya, we wind up someplace called Not Furya. Yet again, someone was trying to play me. So yet again, we play for blood._

_I pull two daggers from my belt as I stand up. Fuckers don't even know they're dead men walking. I turn around and let the daggers fly into two of the grunts skulls, each connecting with and eye socket and causing the grunts to drop dead at Krone's feet. I rush forward and grab one of the daggers out of the dead grunts heads and immediately slam it into the neck of the last grunt standing. It makes a gurgling sound as he tries to breathe._

_Krone starts to fire at me now… and I use the last grunt as a human shield of sorts. Krone gets a lucky shot off and shoots the guys head off… so I'm left with plan B. I throw my cape at him as a distraction and grab the dagger out of the decapitated guy's neck. I run towards the edge of the cliff while spinning mid-jump so I can hurl the dagger at Krone. He dodges the blade and I hear it hit the rocks behind him. _

_I land on the edge and quickly take cover, pulling my last blade from my gauntlet. I hear him step forward so I taunt him a little… showing him I still have a blade. I hear him stop and begin shooting at something now…but I don't figure out what till it's too late. The ground I'm standing on starts to give way and I feel myself falling, Krone's words echoing behind me as I do._

_"__You keep what you kill Riddick!"_

I wake up startled and instinctively pulling one of my makeshift shivs. There isn't anything around me… just the sounds of the dust storm outside my makeshift camp. I'll need to get more water before it gets any worse, so I grab my hide cloak and goggles before setting out.

XXX

River's POV

She retreats to the edge of the _gao se_ town in order to find a quiet place. She spies a tall tree nearby and quickly decides it would be better to think while concealed in the tall branches than exposed in the open, and easily scales the tree. She sits back, allows her eyes to close, and retreats into her mind palace…

_She starts opening doors to access her recent dreams… it's like she's watching them on a projector and she scans them for any clues…_

**_There's something inside me  
>That pulls beneath the surface<em>**

_Rocks…nearly-horizontal sedimentary rocks… arid climate produced striking erosional forms… desolate… but carvings and tombs indicate it was once occupied…Interesting fauna… the bird she saw… has she seen it before? Where?_

**_This lack of self control I fear  
>Is never ending, controlling<em>**

_She opens another door in her mind palace and begins walking through a hallway… searching for something… she comes to the end of the hallway and stops at the last door. _

**_I've felt this way before so insecure_**

_"__Duh liou mahng" she says to herself. She hated this door…she tried to avoid it as much as possible. She couldn't stay long. Three minutes. Any more, she could lose her mind…again. If the illusion become reality…there's really no way back._

**_Discomfort, endlessly has pulled  
>Itself upon me distracting, reacting<em>**

_She walks up and puts her palm on the door knob. It's cold to the touch and she slowly opens it, staring into the place she didn't like to go… She's back in the Academy. The cold sterile environment one that sends chills down her spine. She walks forward and slowly picks up speed until she's running through_

**_Against my will I stand beside my own reflection  
>It's haunting how I can't seem<em>**

_She rounds a corner and is confronted with a memory she wasn't expecting…it's her. She's in a wheelchair after one of the more 'difficult' surgeries. She closes her eyes and reminds herself to breath. "It's just an memory. It doesn't mean what you think." She opens her eyes again and the illusion is gone…two minutes left._

**_To find myself again  
>My walls are closing in<em>**

_She opens another doorway and enters a hallway… two more quick turns and she where she needs to be… Dr. Mathias' office. Again she steels herself and enters the room. She quickly goes to the filling cabinet and begins looking for the file she needs… she throws all the ones she doesn't need by the wayside… one minute left._

**_Crawling in my skin  
>These wounds they will not heal<em>**

_She can feel she's getting close… and then there it is…Operation Jabberjay. She opens the file quickly and slips through the pages as fast she can. All she needs is the location…but when she finds it she isn't happy…_

**_Fear is how I fall  
>Confusing what is real<em>**

Her eyes snap open seconds before her sanity begins to slip out of her reach. She exhales a breath she didn't know she was holding. However, she also feels the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, because she can hear the sound of footsteps and voices below her.

XXX

AN: Dun dun dun! I know, you all hate cliffhangers, but it build up the dramatic tension so nicely. (Hides behind concrete wall to avoid shivs). Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this, reviews (good or bad) always appreciated. Til' next time ;)

Translations:

gao se - crap

duh liou mahng - Son of a bitch


	4. Welcome to my evil side

AN: The plot bunnies keep dangling inspiration carrots in front of me, so I keep writing! Thank you Rachet, Teesabean, Irishbrneyes, Ashmo21, and Shenandoah76209 for the lovely reviews, and I hope all you reading this fanfic enjoy this update. (We are really starting to get the ball rolling now) ;)

Chapter 4: Welcome to my evil side

Song: Mz. Hyde by Halestorm

XXX

Mal and Jayne watch as two men walk out from the cover the brush nearby. Mal is quick to approach and address them.

"Morning, gentlemen. You must be the Grange brothers. Hope you're in the mood for beefsteak." He says with a chuckle.

"Attractive animals, ain't they?" Jayne asks the men, who eye the cattle suspiciously.

The taller of the two men spits his tobacco on the ground and continues to eye the animals with a discerning eye. "T'ain't well fed. Scrawny."

"_Fei hua_…Milk and hay, three times a day. Fed to 'em by beautiful women."

Jayne chuckles gleefully now. "That was somethin' to see." Book walks up to the men now and passes a discerning eye over the Grange brothers.

The shorter man peers around Mal and Jayne now to inspect the animals nearby the corral fence. "They's branded."

"Oh, you boys are hittin' all the sellin' points. A fresh brand's a dead giveaway. Claim 'em as your own."

The Grange brothers share a look with each other before turning back to Mal to make their offer. "Twenty a head."

Mal does not look so amused by this number though. "That's an amusing figure, in light of we already agreed on thirty with Badger."

"That's afore we seen 'em. They're atrophied, standin' around on a ship for near a month."

"My comprehension is less muscle, more tender the meat." Mal says in response before quickly countering their offer. "Thirty."

"Problem?" Book asks to Mal under his breath.

Mal speaks quietly to Book now. "No. 'Bout a minute from now, we'll agree on twenty-five."

There is a noise in the bushes and the Grange brothers startle at a rattling noise, their hands going to their guns.

"Seem a mite jumpy to you?" Jayne says to Mal and Book.

"I'm thinking... maybe we walk away entirely." The taller man says to Mal.

This does not sit well with Mal and he doesn't try and hide his annoyance. "I'm thinking, you do that, and we got ourselves trouble."

Before another word can be said Inara and Kaylee appear on the path leading to the ship. All the men seem to relax slightly at the sight of the ladies and the Grange brothers tip their hats to them as they pass.

"Mornin', ladies." Mal says as a courtesy before turning his attention back to the Grange brothers.

"Serious trouble. Of the you-owe-us variety." Mal says lowering his voice so that the Grange brothers do not mistake his meaning.

Once again the Grange brothers share a look before turning their attention back to Mal. "We can go to twenty-five."

Now it's Mal and Jayne's turn to share a look. They both smirk at each other a little before Mal turns and accepts. "Well… we'd be takin' a loss, but you seem like clean and virtuous boys. Done."

Older Grange brother is taking out his bag of cash, when suddenly, three lawmen burst out of the brush with their guns drawn.

"Marcus and Nathaniel Grange! You are wanted in connection to the illegal killing of Rance Durbin. You are bound by law to stand down!"

Mal quietly address Jayne as the lawmen approach. "You know, I'm starting to find this whole planet very uninviting."

XXX

River's POV

"Hurry it up boy! Faster." One of the men below her says gruffly. She can't see the men yet, but can hear them come from the direction of town.

Another man echoes his accomplices sentiments. "Got to go faster. Want to get there 'fore dark!"

However the next voice that she hears makes her inwardly groan. He takes so much looking after. "Get where? Where are we going?" Simon says.

She hears someone stumble now, as if they had been pushed. She assumes it's Simon. "Shut up!" One of the men says.

"If it's ransom you want, I... I can arrange something." Simon tries to plead again. They are just a few meters away now, and she begins to climb down the tree to better assess the situation.

"No talking!" One the thugs yells.

She's all the way down the tree now and coming around its trunk to approach them. If she can take them by surprise, she may be able to gain the upper hand.

She sees Simon be shoved forward as he continues to try and reason with his captors. "Look, you don't understand. My sister…" And that's when Simon sees her. "No. Oh, no." He mumbles.

"Found you." I say with a saccharinely sweet voice.

Simon breaks from the hill folk, and runs towards me. Unfortunately for him, he also trips on a tree root and falls flat on his face knocking himself unconscious. But it's better that way, easier for me to not have to explain to him how his baby sister took down three wannabe kidnappers.

XXX

Back at Serenity…

As the dust clears and the Grange brothers are carted away by the lawmen, the crew of Serenity finds themselves in another dire situation. Shepherd Book lies wounded on the ground. Mal quickly rushes to his side and leans over him to inspect the wound. It's a bullet wound, just above his heart.

"Hey. Stay with me, Shepherd." Mal says as he puts pressure on the bullet hole to stem the bleeding.

Book looks down at Mal's hands and sees that they are covered in blood. "That's... that's quite a lot of blood, isn't it?"

"Just means you ain't dead." Mal says as he nods at the preacher.

Book leans back now and the pain he is feeling is written all over his face. "Afraid I might be needing a preacher."

"That's good. You lie there and be ironical." Mal turns to Jayne now, how is standing next to him. "Stretcher."

Jayne doesn't move though. Instead, he is watching the lawmen escort the Grange brothers away.

"Jayne!" Mal yells to bring him back to his senses.

"Right, stretcher, on it." Jayne says as he hurries inside.

Jayne and Mal are carrying Book in on a stretcher. He passes Kaylee and Zoe on his way up the cargo ramp.

"What's going on?" Kaylee says as she rushes to kneel next to Book. Zoe isn't far behind her.

"Oh my god. Shepherd? Shepherd, can you hear me?"

"Sir?" Zoe asks as she also kneels down next to them.

"The contacts started a gunfight with the law. Shepherd here got hit by a stray bullet."

She nods her head as Jayne reappears with the stretcher behind her. "Doesn't look good, sir."

"I know…We gotta try and stop this bleeding. Zoe help me get him on the stretcher. Kaylee, you hold pressure on the wound, and Jayne… get your ass into town. See if you can't find that _jing tzahng mei yong duh_ of a doctor." Mal says.

"Don't you worry, Shepherd. Cap and Zoe got lots of experience with this kind of thing. Seen a lot worse in the war." Kaylee says tearfully as they head back into Serenity.

XXX

River's POV

"Why hello, sweetheart." One of the thugs said as he eyed her lasciviously. She rolls her eyes as he approaches her, the other two thugs clearly showing deference to him by allowing him first 'go' with her. He walks around her, eyeing her up and down in the process. "What's a sweet thing like you doing out here."

**_In the daylight, I'm your sweetheart,  
>Your goody two-shoes, prude is a work of art.<em>**

"Bet, she's lookin' for a good time. Stark, pretty little thing like her." One of Stark's minions says.

Stark nods to his minion and then turns back towards her. "That true, sugar? You lookin' for a good time?" He comes in close and touches her hair now. She smacks his hand away from her.

"Oh, looks like we got a feisty one here boys." He says with a chuckle.

**_But you don't know me and soon you won't forget,  
>Bad as can be, yeah you know I'm not so innocent.<em>**

"8.6 seconds." She says calmly as the man moves back in front of her.

"What's that little girl?"

A smile ghosts upon her lips now as she brings her eyes up to meet his gaze. "The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems…but since I don't have that… it'll settle for breaking your nose."

**_I can be the bitch, I can play the whore,  
>Or your fairytale princess, who could ask for more?<em>**

"Why…you… little whore!" Stark says as he slaps her across the face. She's had worse though, and she turns to look back at him.

"You shouldn't have done that." She practically growls at him now.

"Oh yeah? Watch me do it again." He says as he brings up his palm to strike her again. She stops it in mid air before it close to her face. The strength of her grip brings the man to his knees.

**_Better be scared, better be afraid,  
>Now that the beast is out of her cage.<em>**

"Welcome to the nightmare in my head…welcome to my evil side." She says before all hell breaks loose.

XXX

Riddick's POV

Pretty soon I realized there was a whole other world over there…water… grass… life… Just had one thing in my way. I'd started to watch how the mud vipers responded to different things. Tested to see if noise alerted them… but that hadn't done it. It wasn't until I threw something in its pit did it stir. Which means they likely responded to vibrations on the water.

Next, I managed to catch a few of the young ones and get some of their venom. Even fastened a rudimentary syringe out of eel organs and their fangs. Needed to see if this stuff was lethal…or if you could build up an immunity to it.

I tired a bit of the venom on the jackal pup I found in the sand storm. Little guy was feisty…but once the venom started to take affect he had lost a lot of his fight. Thought he wouldn't make it through the night…but sure enough the next day he was awake and active. So now we were on to 'human' trials.

I tied off a vein on my arm and mentally prepared to inject this crap into me. It burned going into my blood stream…and I can feel it traveling through my nervous system. My vision started to blur soon after, and I remember vomiting before I passed out.

_"__Welcome to the nightmare in my head…welcome to my evil side." It was all she said before the fight began… course it's not like she was up against much. _

_There was a bone crunching snap as the first man's arm was dislocated from its socket as she spun around him to charge at the two lackeys nearby. They were obviously unskilled fighters the way they swung blindly at her… and she easily dodged each of their blows while landing kicks to one's knee and the other's stomach. _

_By this time though, the first guy was up and running on pure adrenaline…but he was also charging her blindly and easily set himself for her to send an elbow into his nose. He howled in pain as the blood started pouring out. He stayed on the ground in the fetal position after that._

_One of the guys managed to grab her arms to try and pin them so she couldn't hit them as another guy approached. It didn't matter much though, she kicked up the guy in front of her and flipped back over the one holding her arms. As the guy turned around to face her, she delivered a quick kick to his groin and he fell over groaning._

_All three of the men were now realizing the huge mistake they had in underestimating what they thought of as an easy target, and were quickly starting to scurry away from where she stood. It was beautiful…it was the only way to describe the way that she fought, the way she moved. It was like watching a prima ballerina, a master completely capable and in control of every inch of her body._

I come to a few hours later. I'm disoriented, but other than that not that bad off. At least I know now that I might be able to build up a resistance to the mud viper's venom. I'll have to try another dosage tomorrow.

XXX

The wannabe kidnappers start to scurry away just as Jayne comes into the clearing that they are in…and just as Simon starts to come to.

River turns to Jayne and call to him. "Oh thank god, you saved us!" She says as she runs forward and throws her arms around his waist.

"What the hell are you babblin' on about Moonbrain." He says as he tries to extricate himself from her grasp.

"They…they tried to kidnap us." Simon says groggily. "You must have scared them away."

"Well, I don't know nothin' about that, but Shepherd Book has been shot Doc, so your skills are needed…now." Jayne says as he walks over to Simon, hoists him up and practically drags him back to Serenity.

River follows along after them, a smile playing at her lips. Neither Jayne, nor Simon noticed that her knuckles were bloodied…and that it wasn't hers.

XXX

Translations:

Fei hua. - Crap talk

jing tzahng mei yong duh - useless


	5. She's getting worse, isn't she?

AN: Thank you to Darling Drusilla, Ashmo21, Shenandoah7209, and Rachet for the lovely reviews. I hop you all are as happy with this chapter as you were with the last. FYI - I am playing with the Firefly timeline. The first episode, Shindig, and Safe have all taken place, but Train Job has not (I may or may not want to revisit this later when we have Riddick and River together, we will see). Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this update.

Chapter 5: She's getting worse, isn't she?

Song: Vixen by Late Night Alumni

XXX

Riddick's POV

It took two weeks to building up a tolerance to the venom. Once I stopped passing out from the injections, I figured it was safe to try and make my way through the viper's pit. I grabbed my knives as well as my axe and headed out. I heard the jackal pup whimpering behind me in his cage, but he wasn't of any use to me anymore...

I turn and walk out of my makeshift camp towards the pit. I had a plan in my head… and as I draw closer I can feel the adrenaline spike in veins. I get a running start and vault over the rocks nearby and land at the edge of the water. I watch for any movement, and after a few moments I see the tail break the surface. I unsheathe my axe and wait… it's tail is moving back and fourth… its pinchers clicking together… its taunting me.

As it comes in for the first strike I bat it away with the handle of my axe. It rebounds and comes in for another strike and again I bat it away. I'm slowly edging my way back out of the water now… and it's waiting to attack.

"Come on, show me some teeth." I say as I take a few small steps forward, splashing into the shallow end of the pit as I do.

It moves to attack again, and I deflect it with the handle of my axe again. I'm getting really fuckin' sick of this cat and mouse game. As I deflect another blow from it's tail, it lunges forward with it's jaws, and I almost have him out of the water…but it slinks back in before he comes any closer.

"Come on big guy, show me what you got."

Finally, the mud viper strikes out with it's jaws and latches on to my leg. It hurts as his fangs dig into my skin, but my tolerance allows me to stay standing. It's now that I extend the blade of my axe and slice its fuckin' head off. It falls to the ground with a lout thud, and I move back out of the pool in order to pull it's fangs out of my leg.

It's then that I hear a jackal pup barking, and I turn around to see the pup I had been using behind me.

"Escape artist, huh?'" I say as I watch the pup bark at a few baby mud viper tails in the water nearby.

It's also when I hear a much louder hissing behind me. I turn just as I am hit in my side by an even larger tail, and I go skidding into a nearby rock… my head cracking against an edge.

"Fuck this shit." I say as I scramble to pick up the pup and my axe. I manage to grab both… one in each arm as I slide on my knees underneath the massive mud viper…slicing into its stomach as I do. It's guts spill into the water below it, and I make it to the stairs on the other side.

I turn and watch as the thing begins to eat its own entrails. Disgusting. The pup in my arms also makes a disgusted sound before turning to look up at me and lick my face. Maybe, it won't be so bad to keep him around. And with that, I turn and walk up the stairs and up to the plains of not-Furya to explore.

XXX

River's POV

No matter how many times she tried to think of a plausible explanation for why she would need to go _there_, she had yet to think of one the _houzi de pigu _of a Captain would accept. She knew he would not listen to her reasoning… not when they all still thought of her as a _feng-lei_ porcelain doll. And over the past two weeks that they had been sailing through the black, she had yet to think of some other reasons or excuse that would get him to go _there_. But she needed to go _there_…and her inability to do so was making her a tad…unpredictable.

It had come to a head this morning… when the _liu kuoshui de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi_ ape-man wore that stupid Blue Sun shirt. She doesn't even remember picking up the butcher's knife… or walking towards him… she had been wracking her brain trying to think of a reason the Captain would accept. It was only when the back of Jayne's palm connected with her face that she came out of her trance.

She looks around at all the faces in front of her… all of them showing concern for her… and some for the ape-man. It's almost comical to see his face getting so white from shock, and she can't help but laugh a little.

"He looks better in red." She says while starting to laugh manically, much to the horror of the crew.

XXX

"Fuckin' _Si san ba. _Freak's completely off her axel." Jayne says as he is on the exam table in the infirmary.

Simon is patiently trying to stitch Jayne up as he continues to rant. "I'm sorry about this. I don't know what…"

"Shut up, I ain't talking to you." Jayne interrupts him. "She's gotta go. Both of them's gotta go. Boros' as good a place as any to leave 'em. Hell! It's where they was goin' when we picked them up!" Jayne says practically yelling at Mal now.

"No one's getting left." Mal says calmly, but he's starting to lose his cool.

"She belongs in a bughouse. You don't pitch her off this boat right now, I swear to you…" Jayne continues before being interrupted by Mal.

Mal is clearly losing his temper now. "What? What are you swearing, Jayne?"

"They don't get gone, you better start locking up your room at night. Next time little sister gets in a murdering mood, might be you she comes calling on. Maybe Kaylee. Or Inara. You let them stay, we're gonna find out."

Mal leans in very close to Jayne, meeting his icy glare with one of his own. "Finish your work, doctor. This is my boat. They're part of my crew. No one's letting left. Best you get used to that." Mal says before moving to stand by one of the side counters.

Jayne looks at Mal, swallows visibly, looks very unhappy as he gets up from exam table. He pushes bloody shirt at Simon as he snips the last suture.

"You owe me a shirt." Jayne says to Simon as he exits the infirmary.

Mal walks back over to Simon as he begins to clean up. "She's to stay confined to her room, at all times, no exceptions."

Simon merely nods, a frown on his face.

"Take her to the kitchen, the infirmary, whatever, you ask me first, understand?" Mal continues.

"I do." Simon says as he meets the Captain's gaze.

"When I took you and your sister in, the deal was you keep her in check. You can't hold up your end, we're going to have to revisit the deal."

Again, Simon just nods, and looks down from the Captain.

Mal makes to leave the room, but stops just short of the door. "She's getting worse, isn't she?" He asks.

Simon sighs. "Yes."

Mal sighs and turns back to Simon. "Look, I like you… hell, I like your sister too. Granted she's more than a might unpredictable with her mood swings. But we're deep in space, corner of No and Where. You're goin' to have to take extra care with her, 'cause we're very much alone out here."

And with that he turns and leaves the infirmary.

XXX

Riddick's POV

I'd spent the last month roaming the plains of not-Furya. It was much easier to survive and live off the land up here than in down where the more deadly predators stayed. At least the animals up here were slower…made for easy pickins'. I still hadn't been able to figure out which planet I was on, nothing suggest that it had fostered any human life for centuries.

It was about two weeks in that I discovered the caves and set-up camp. They provided shelter from the winds that would occasionally pick up, and made it easy to have a solid base to fall back on.

But most of the time I spent wandering the plains, pulling a makeshift shed with some supplies on it for me and the jackal pup. Don't know what they did to these things, but it was growing at an accelerated rate. Hell, thing already looked full grown.

I'm dragging the sled on another small trek when the jackal comes bounding up, playful as ever… looks like he's got something in his mouth.

"What you got?" I ask holding out my hand. He takes a few steps like he's going to give it to me before bouncing away, his tail wagging playfully.

"I thought we shared everything." I say as I hold out my hand still. Again, he takes a few steps like he's going to give it to me before bouncing away. I growl at him until he sheepishly approaches and I grab the scruff of his neck when he gets close. He drops what he's got his mouth into my hand… it's a golf ball.

"Where'd you get this?" I ask as I turn it over in my hand.

He takes off in the direction he came from, and I follow along with the sled.

XXX

River's POV

She was restless… she hated being confined to small spaces…it just brought back… 'uncomfortable' memories. It brought her back to a very, very, dark place. Made it harder to distinguish between what was the present, what was the past, and what was…an illusion? A premonition? She was never sure which…

_…__But she does have an oddness to her. Girl knows things. Things she shouldn't. Things she couldn't…_

**_There is a little part of me that wants the best for you.  
>Can't help but wish the best was me.<em>**

She needed to escape…needs to get away. They're getting too close… too close to the truth for her comfort. She wants to claw them out… surgically remove each and every one from her mind. That's what _they_ had tried to do, wasn't it? Surgically remove the pieces they didn't want… didn't need.

**_Coquette I bet you'd say I am, a vixen ripe for play._**

_Dr. Mathais' words echo through her mind now. "There is only one worthy goal for scientific exploration: piercing the tissue that separates seeing and truly knowing. Everything else, from the deep bottom of the sea to the top of the highest mountain on the farthest planet, is insignificant." _

**_I'm an open book, despite my puzzled look,  
>And coax me to confess to all I never meant.<em>**

She quickly shakes her head, as if it would help dislodge the memory faster. She tries to anchor her self to _his_ voice… but the drugs Simon had poisoned her with were making it difficult. She never understood doctors' insatiable desire to medicate… to dull the senses. Sanity was subjective anyways. Crazy wasn't bad, it wasn't being broken, or swallowing a dark secret. It's just your true self… amplified.

**_If I'm a siren in the night you aim in vain to fight,_**

She needs a plan… they wouldn't take her to where she needs to go. Every time she tried to probe the Captain's mind for an answer on how to approach the subject, she was just met with resistance and iron walls. He'd sealed that part of his past up tight… refused to think about it. But that's to be expected after what happened there. The whole world was a grave.

She closes her eyes and retreats into her mind palace… maybe then she could see the forrest through the trees.

**_I'll fasten up my eyes and feign a mild surprise. _**

_She sees herself… lying on the floor of her room. She gets up and walks away from her body and lets herself float through Serenity. She moves like liquid through the hallways… fluid… seamless. She can hear each voice… feel where each of the crew are on the ship. It's predictable… and there is a small amount of comfort in their predictability. _

_But hidden beneath the surface…something is off…out of place. Something doesn't belong._

_"__Strains the mind a bit, don't it? You think you're all alone…Maybe not, though… Maybe I've always been here."_

**_You say jump, I say how high? You say leave, I say goodbye._**

_"__We're all just floating."_

Her eyes snap open now, and she traces the voice in her mind… follows it through to the source. Everything comes into crystal clear focus… and she smiles. "Curiouser, and curiouser."

XXX

AN: So, any guesses which planet Riddick is stuck on? I'm curious to see if you guys have figured it out (I will say I keep going back and fourth between two choices, but hopefully by the next chapter I will have made up my mind, and hint: either option has a very big history with the Firefly/Serenity verse). Anyways, til' next time ;)

Translations:

houzi de pigu - monkey's butt

feng-lei - crazy

liu kuoshui de biaozi he houzi de ben erzi - stupid son of a drooling whore and a monkey

si san ba - bitch


	6. You're the wolf in the sheep

AN: I apologize for lagging on updating, I started a new job Monday so I was getting used to the commute/work/etc. But I am back now and very excited to see what you all think of this update! Huge thank yous to everyone reading, favoriting, and following, and especially to Birdy Main, Ashmo21, Irishbrneyes, Rachet, Shenandoah76209, Darling Drusilla, and Tessabean for the recent reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6: You're the wolf in the sheep

Song: Take a Bullet by Nothing More

XXX

…On the bridge of Serenity…

"Little River just gets more colorful by the moment. What'll she do next?" Wash says as he adjusts their nag-trajectory. Zoe sits with him on the bridge as he prepares to put Serenity into auto-pilot for the night.

Zoe has a pensive look on her face as she answers him, "Either blow us all up or start talking about nargles and voices… It's a toss-up."

"It's always a hoot when she talks about nargles and threstals, and we don't all die from it." Wash says with a chuckle as he looks up at Zoe.

Zoe doe not share her husbands amusement though. "Poor kid."

Wash sighs and turns back to the nag-trajectory and readouts. "Yeah. She's definitely got…" he pauses when he notices something on one of the scanners. "Funny."

"Something wrong?" Zoe says as she looks down at the readouts too.

"I'm just getting a weird heat-bounce off our wake."

"Engine flux?"

Wash shakes his head and gets up from his chair. "Sensors probably got turned around. I'll climb up top after we land on Boros."

XXX

Riddick's POV

Before long, I spy it… a single building… off in the distance. Looks like it has taken some damage over the years, but structurally sound. It's interesting… fact that it's the only thing I've come across on this planet that doesn't feel ancient.

I stay back and watch for awhile… no need to go in half-cocked and run into someone I wasn't expecting. Jackal is restless… playful…and continually trying to get me to go closer. But I growl at him and he takes a hint and slinks back behind me. There isn't any sign of a ship nearby or one landing recently… but you never know. After about an hour or so of scoping the place out from a distance I decide to move in closer for a better look.

But as I start to move in closer I catch a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye and pause. There, just to the right of the building…is a single figure.

XXX

River's POV

She doesn't go to eat with the rest of the crew that night. Isn't in the mood to "socialize," she tells Simon when he comes to get her. She waves him away, saying "Life was always a matter of waiting for the right moment to act," and he leaves, exasperated by her behavior, not long after.

The truth was she was waiting… waiting for his arrival, but they didn't need to know that. They wouldn't understand, not yet, not until she showed them. But in the meantime she would wait. Wait for the right moment, and she would prefer to wait in private… in silence. Everything would need to be precise, and she wanted to have time to herself to plan… to calculate.

Her eyes close as she sits on her bed. She retreats into her mind palace… and begins to plan.

_She watches everything in slow motion… and as an ephemeral figment. She sees herself sitting at the table in the common area… sees Simon… and Jubel Early standing across from her. 15.3 feet away from her she notes. _

_"__Early... Mr. Jubel Early, bounty hunter. May I call you Jubel?"_

_"__Ain't nobody calls me that."_

**_Silence, Is your enemy  
>Because you're afraid,<br>That we'll all see_**

_He's agitated… but in control. Body armor on eighty point three present of his body. Hands…feet… and head exposed. He holds a Smith and Wesson .44 Special at Simon's head. Bullet velocity would be lethal if he shot at her…_

**_Silence, The more you speak  
>The less I believe,<br>You plant words like weeds_**

_"__Your mother does. I'm sorry... "did." She's gone now."_

_"__Is that supposed to scare me? Bringing up my mother?"_

**_Scream loud (You'll never fool me)  
>Sing out (You'll never fool me)<em>**

_She watches the scene play out…calculates every inch to the room. Every possible scenario. And the numbers fly in front of her face at rapid pace. And then she sees it… sees her window. The moment she was waiting for._

**_Hear now (You'll never fool me)  
>Do you see how fake you sound?<em>**

Her eyes open now and she moves to exit the room quickly. She has to collect a few things and make it back to her room before their 'guest' arrives and Simon comes to check on her… which leaves her only a few minutes.

XXX

The rest of the evening had gone on predictably and without incident. The crew, minus River, had eaten their meal without any outbursts or arguments, and everyone had retired to their rooms. Simon had checked in on River and found her asleep in her bed, and then went to bed himself.

Mal was on the first shift of watch and had spent a majority of it on the bridge alone with his thoughts about what to do about the Tam siblings. He had yet to come up with a reasonable answer, and was returning to his room to grab a flask of whiskey he kept there for times when he had a problem that wouldn't sort itself out.

However, unbeknownst to Mal, just as he opens the door of his room and begins to climb down into it, someone else… with much more evil machinations… is also opening a door, and descending into Serenity. Both men were quite surprised then, when they each rounded the corner and were face to face with each other.

They stare at each other for a second, a little bit stunned. It's Early who moves to attack first. Maybe it was the element of surprise, or maybe it was the fact it was so late at night, but Early quickly and efficiently beats the tar out of Mal and knocks him out.

XXX

Riddick's POV

It's just like the dream. She's facing away from me, the winds blowing in her hair. She turns towards me when she hears me approaching… a smile plastered across her face. She's walking towards me now… effectively meeting me half way in the field that separates us.

She stops a few feet away from me and I do the same.

"Is this another dream?" I ask skeptically. Been so long since I've seen someone, let along a girl from my fucked up dreams that it feels surreal.

"She could tell you the words if you want…tell you what you expect to hear, if that would make it seem more real."

This piques my interest. "You have them too?"

"Longer than you… she's very familiar with you… seen what you can do. Your experiences gave her strengthen when she felt like falling into a million pieces."

"Did I now? And what made you want to break apart?" I ask.

I watch her tremble a bit while shutting her eyes tight, whatever it was, she didn't have fond memories. "She does not wish to discuss that now… they have other things to talk about."

"Like how the hell you got on this rock? Or how you got that dagger you got in your hand?" I say as I nod my head towards what's she carrying.

"Yes, so let's go inside Strider… she's had a long journey."

XXX

…Back on Serenity a week ago…

Simon wakes up when he hears a noise out in the hallway. Instinctively he gets up, thinking it's River prowling around when she is supposed to be in her room.

"River?" He says as he peers out into the hallway. He doesn't see anything at first… but notices that the door to River's room is open. He moves to investigate, but before he gets into her room, he's attacked by Jubel Early who had been hiding in the structural supports above. Early wraps his legs around Simon's neck, and Simon attempts in vain to fight back. Early quickly and easily throws him to the ground before jumping down from his perch. Simon lunges toward him, but Early draws his gun, and they both freeze.

"Dr. Tam... why don't you sit yourself down?" Early says as he motions to the stairs with his gun.

Simon doesn't move. "Rather die standing."

"The intention is not for you to die. The warrant doesn't specify any particular need for you to be alive, but…" Early motions again with his gun and this time Simon sits.

Early cranes his neck to look into River's room before turning his attention back to Simon. "Where's your sister?"

"Are you Alliance?" Simon asks warily.

Early looks confused. "Am I a lion?"

"What?"

Early chuckles. "I don't think of myself as a lion… You might as well, though. I have a mighty roar."

Simon looks at him like he's a little insane. "I said Alliance."

"Oh. I thought…"

"No, I was…"

Now Early looks a little baffled. "That's weird…" But he quickly gets back on topic. "Where's your sister?"

"I don't know. Who do you work for?" Simon responds.

Early doesn't pay any attention to Simon's question though. "This is her room."

"Yes."

"It's empty."

Simon is beyond confused as to where this is going. "I know."

"So is it still her room when it's empty? Does the room, the thing, have purpose? Or do we…what's the word?"

And now Simon feels like he might be going insane. "I really can't help you."

"The plan is to take your sister. Get the reward, which is substantial… "Imbue." That's the word." Early continues.

No Simon begins to get more worried. "So you're a bounty hunter."

Early looks displeased. "No. That ain't it at all."

"Then what are you?" Simon asks.

"I'm a bounty hunter. I'm named Early. I'm known to some. Been tracking you since the Fed called in the cruiser after you all left Persephone…She sleep with anybody?"

Early's question throws Simon. "River?"

"Yeah. She grapple with any of the crew? Might be in their quarters?"

"No!" Simon replies vehemently.

Early does not seem convinced. "Maybe she does and you don't know about it."

"This is insane. I'm not going to help you find her, in any case." Simon says getting frustrated. Simon rests his arms on his knees and looks determined.

Early sighs and approaches, squatting down and brandishing his gun. "I think this is very pretty. I like the weight of it."

"I thought the intention was not to kill me." Simon says with a bit of a sneer.

"No. You're missing the point. The design of the thing is functional. The plan is not to shoot you. The plan is to get the girl. If there's no girl, then the plan, well, is like the room. You are gonna help me look for her." Early says as he stands back up.

"I don't think my last act in this 'verse is gonna be betraying my sister." Simon says as he remains seated.

"You're gonna help me. 'Cause every second you're with me is the chance to turn the tables. Get the better of me. Maybe you'll find your I'll slip. Or, you refuse to help me, I shoot your brain out, then I go upstairs and start shooting everyone else." He grabs Simon's arm now and hoists him up to stand.

"You're out of your mind." Simon says as he is dragged along by Early.

"That's between me and my mind. Let's start with these rooms."

XXX

River's POV

She waits… quietly… patiently for them to make their way towards her. She sits at the table, hands in her lap. Perfectly still…perfectly calm. She doesn't want to give anything away, especially what she has in her lap. Needs everything precise. They walk in not long after, and she looks up at them to see surprise written across Simon's face, and a smug smile on Early.

"Early... Mr. Jubel Early, bounty hunter. May I call you Jubel?" She says as she remains seated.

This throws Early off a bit. "Ain't nobody calls me that."

She smiles at him. "Your mother does. I'm sorry... "did." She's gone now." She can feel his control of the situation slipping into her hands. She just needs to get him a bit further away from Simon first though…

Early is becoming a bit more unnerved. "Is that supposed to scare me? Bringing up my mother?"

"Not at all, she was merely making an observation. She's good at making observations. For instance…you're a liar. She don't think your intentions are honorable."

She can tell from his face and his posture that he doesn't necessarily disagree with her. "Well, no. I'm a bounty hunter. It's generally not considered honorable so much as... I live by a code, though. Which I think is worth…"

She interrupts him now. "**_Righteous, You claim to be, put your forked tongue, behind your teeth_**. **_Your words are poison and sweet…Talk is nothing to me._** You hurt people."

"Only when the job requires it."

"Wrong. You're a bad liar. It's why you took the job. Power. Control. Pain…Your mother knew. Sadness in her when she waved good-bye. She's relieved. Saw darkness in you…You're not well."

"Stop bringing up my mother." Early says growing agitated.

"River, I'm not sure…" Simon tries to interject but she and Early both ignore him. Early takes a step away from Simon now… perfect.

"Does it bother you? Being reminded of what she saw in you? **_You're the wolf in the sheep…_**_Jubel Early…_**_But you'll never fool me."_**

"Enough! We finish this exchange, or your brother's brains will be flying every which-a-way." He turns to Simon now as if to explain his actions. "You understand, I'm sort of on the clock, here. It's frustrating."

"You're wrong, Early."

He starts to turn back towards her. "I'm not wrong, dumpling. I will shoot your brother dead if you don't…"

But he doesn't get another word out as she fires a perfectly aimed shot into his head. "**_Take a bullet for me, Maybe then I'll believe._**" She says as she stands up from the table, Izzy, one of Jayne's guns from the weapons locker downstairs, still smoking in her hand. It had been easy enough for her to pick the lock, and it Izzy had been the most obvious choice for her to take since it was small enough that the gun firing wouldn't wake most of the crew.

"RIVER!" Simon screams as the body of Jubel Early falls to the floor.

She wastes no time getting up from the table and walking towards Simon calmly. "Shh… it's alright." She says as her brother hugs her. She feels a modicum of guilt for what she's about to do.

"River, I don't know how you…" But that's when she pistol whips him on the head and knocks him to the floor.

XXX

AN: I don't think any of you were expecting that, right? Hopefully I managed to surprise you. The next update will have more of River and Riddick's meeting, I promise. Til' next time ;)


	7. She's not laughing

AN: Big thank yous to Rachet, Irishbrneyes, Birdy Main, Dherea, and Player4ever for the great reviews. I have to give a special shout out to Shenandoah76209 who not only has been an writing reviews, but also being an amazing sounding board for a few of my ideas for this fanfic (I really appreciate it). Anyways, we are finally at the big meet! Hope you enjoy ;)

Chapter 7: She's not laughing

Song: Surface Flames by Nothing More

XXX

River's POV

She makes a move to go inside the outpost, but she can tell he isn't following her. She turns back to him. "Are you going to be difficult?" She asks him.

"Girly, I don't have the slightest clue who in the fuckin' world you are, let alone how you got here. So until I get some answers, I'm not movin' and inch, _dong-ma_?" He says as he crosses his arms.

She laughs. "Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle." But he isn't fazed by her riddles and remains standing there unmoving. She huffs in mild frustration. Typical alpha male. "Fine, she will answer some of your questions, and go on till she comes to the end: then stop…but she will warn you…it's a long story."

Now it's his turn to chuckle. "Not like we got anywhere we need to be."

XXX

…Serenity, a week earlier…

River's POV

She moves quickly through the hallways to the cargo area… she had prepped a EVA Suit before Early had arrived and quickly moved to put it on. She calculated that one of the crew would stumble upon unconscious Simon and very dead Early in less than four minutes, so she had to move fast.

She runs back through the hallways and towards the bridge. Simon is still unconscious and breathing deeply as she passes… but Early's blood was beginning to create a large puddle on the floor.

She could also feel the vague tendrils of the Captain's mind beginning to stir now. She had three minutes to get out of there, and still needed to visit the bridge. She quickly enters the bridge, sets down the EVA Suit's helmet and scurries underneath the control panel. She quickly begins to yank few of the wires and shorting out a few connections. She doesn't want to cripple them completely…just make it difficult to follow her.

She can hear that the Captain is awake now, and beginning to get his thoughts back in order.

_What the hell's goin' on here?…There's a guy... he's very blurry… Oh… How come there's a guy on board._

She runs back out the hallway and past a still confused Captain. She can hear him say her name, but she just goes to the hatch, put on her helmet, and scurries up the ladder…barely closing the hatch and locking it before Mal is pounding on the other side.

**_I don't care about the story,  
>I don't care about the myth.<em>**

She opens up the exterior hatch and begins moving towards Early's ship. She's halfway there when she hears the static come through the EVA Suit's built in com. She knew he was going to be mad.

"_Taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu_! River, what in the _shensheng de gaowan_ of hell do you think you are doing?" Mal screams at her over the comm.

**_I don't care how you see my life,_**

She rolls her eyes. "When I let go of what I was, I became what I might be. You won't take her where she needs to go, so she found another way." She says as she ascends the rope tethering Early's ship to Serenity.

**_You haven't witnessed it._**

"What in hell are you talking about?" He says still screaming at her. She hears muffled voice in the background now, and assumes that someone else must have found Simon and are just getting to the bridge.

"Why is there a dead guy on my ship? Why is your brother out cold?" Mal screams at her now. She hears someone shouting at him and taking the comm away from him.

**_Use fear as a weapon, and pity as a whip,_**

"River, honey, it's Inara." She rolls her eyes at superficial sweetness in Inara's voice. "Look, we know you are probably really scared right now. Just come back inside and we can talk about this."

"No thank you. She has much she needs to do." The girl says as she closes the hatch to Early's ship. She starts the engine priming sequence and disconnects the anchor cable remotely.

"River, come back inside now! What are you playing at little girl?" Mal says as he takes the comm back from Inara.

**_Convince everyone around_**

Now she cannot help but get annoyed. "She is playing at nothing! You are the one's who play with her… treat her like a _gorram _doll! Build a shiny cage for her out of gold, but _all that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; from the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the Shadow shall spring…_"

**_Friendly Fire!_**

"River, this isn't funny anymore." Inara says on the comm.

"She's not laughing…" And with that she takes control of ship and jettison's off into space away from Serenity.

XXX

Serenity's Bridge

By the time Kaylee, Zoe, Wash, and Shepherd Book walk on to the bridge Mal is the literal embodiment of blood boiling mad. Inara is doing her best to calm him, but he isn't having it and is pacing around the bridge muttering obscenities and other half formed sentences.

"What's goin on, heard shoutin'?" Kaylee says as she sleepily walks on to the Bridge.

"What's goin' on? I'll tell you! _Ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi!" _

"MAL! Language!" Inara reprimands. "River's run off." Inara says.

Wash raises his hand like he's in school. "Um, aren't we in the middle of no where?"

"Seem we had an unwelcome visitor, somehow he got shot, and River ran off with his ship…speaking of which I need to go check on Simon, he's out cold." Inara says as she makes her way off the bridge.

"But not before the _si san ba_ humped our Nav-trajectory and Buddha knows what else!" Mal screams again.

Wash and Kaylee share a look before both move forward and begin checking on the damage, both sliding under the main flight console to see what was done.

"Sir, you need to breathe." Zoe says as she and Book approach him.

Book tries to help as well. "Collect your thoughts, son. Screaming isn't going to do anyone any good."

"What' I miss?" Jayne says as he stumbles on to the bridge half awake and yawning.

"Riv' killed some guy that got on Serenity then took off." Zoe says to the merc, who looks dumbfounded by what she just said.

Mal lets himself be guided to the co-pilots chair and begrudgingly sits down. "I'm gonna kill her, what the hell is she playin' at?" Mal asks to no one in particular. "Shoots some guys, which I ain't even mad about considerin' he knocked me out and all. But why cripple Serenity? Why run off?"

"She knew he was coming." Simon says as he and Inara walk on to the bridge.

"Doc?" Mal asks questioningly.

Simon leans against the wall to the bridge and Inara places a frozen bag of protein on his head. "She said something earlier, about waiting for something. I thought it was more of her gibberish. But she knew… she was waiting for him. I mean, she's deeply intuitive. But…"

"But she does have an oddness to her. Girl knows things. Things she shouldn't. Things she couldn't." Book finishes for him.

"Wha…are you-are you sayin' she's a witch?" Jayne says with a tinge of disbelief in his voice.

"Yes, Jayne. She's a witch. She has had congress with the beast." Wash says as be pokes his head up from under the main console.

Jayne just looks more confused now. "She's in Congress?"

Wash looks at Jayne with disbelief evident on his face. "How did your brain even learn human speech? I'm just so curious."

"Quiet! This isn't a joking matter. This is about our lives, and River's." Inara says loudly.

"We need to find her." Simon says after a moment of silence.

"You sure Doc?" Mal asks as he stands up.

"What?"

"Girl seemed pretty adamant she knew what she was doing… No, what we got here to deal with is the larger issue. And that larger issue is we got someone who might be a danger to us. Ain't a question of whether we like her…Like the Shepherd said, girl knows things, things she shouldn't."

"So we just leave her out there? Alone?" Simon says with panic in his voice.

"Didn't say that, but we just need to think a few things through is all… for starters, what's the damage little Kaylee?"

XXX

Riddick's POV

"Interesting story so far kid."

This earns me a look of annoyance and an icy glare. "She is not a 'kid'."

I look her up and don now. "Look barely a day over 16."

"18…an adult." She says with a hiss.

The sun is starting to set now and the entire landscape is filled with a reddish orange glow. It's almost like the entire planet is on fire. But it's deceiving, because I can already feel the temperature begin to drop.

"Whatever, so where's the ship so we can get off this rock?" I say as I start to look around.

She looks flushed now, like she's embarrassed. "There was a complication."

XXX

River's POV

It hadn't been difficult… only a few short days from Boros to Shadow. She had spent some of it awake, but for the most part…since Early was not apparently fond of keeping a surplus of supplies… she was forced to be in cryo-sleep.

She never liked being in cryo, it made it difficult to know what was an illusion and what was reality. She would hear voices… half awake… half dead… and she couldn't block anything out.

_She feels them though rarely sees them at length; rather, they are glimpsed, they are heard, they are felt… and she is never sure if they are part of her past, her future, or an illusion._

_"__They say most of your brain shuts down in cryo-sleep. All but the primitive side, the animal side. No wonder I'm still awake."_

_"__See, most of our best work is done when they're asleep. We can monitor and direct their subconscious, implant suggestions…"_

_"__The ones tellin' me to go for the sweet spot - just to the left of the spine, fourth lumbar down. The abdominal aorta. What a gusher…"_

_"__River... do you want to stay with them?"_

_"…__It's not safe."_

She wakes to the sound of alarms going off in the cockpit… she quickly disconnects the cryo-sleep device from her thigh and swiftly turns to look at the readouts. Somehow her trajectory had gotten tangled up. She was coming in too fast… and it was not going to be a smooth landing.

XXX

Riddick's POV

I chuckle. "So you crashed."

She looks annoyed when I call her out, and my nose picks up the faint scent of lead. "More or less."

"So that explains why we don't have a ticket off this rock… doesn't explain why you have that." I say as I option to the knife.

She huffs, clearly annoyed I keep interrupting her. "She's getting there."

XXX

River's POV

She was thankful to have at least landed on the plains, instead of the gorge with the mud vipers. But it still didn't make finding him any easier. She would need something tangible in order to help guide her. Something he had touched so she could trace his path. She knew of one thing that would help her… and started off towards his original landing site.

It took her the better part of a day to get there, and she finally reached her destination as the sun was setting. But it was just as she saw in her dreams. The frigates burn marks were still visible on the ground from where Crone had taken off from. She walked tentatively… each step testing the area to make sure she wouldn't cause another rock slide. But there it was… stuck into the side of one of the rock faces… the dagger he had thrown at Crone.

It took a minute to wiggle the dagger free from the rock… as well as a fair amount of her energy. But as soon as it was free she started to feel a pull… towards him…

XXX

AN: Okay, so I know there wasn't a whole lot of River/Riddick interaction, but I am still playing with a few ideas on how I want their initial interactions to play out. So instead of putting in something I wasn't entirely happy with, I figured I would deal with it in the next update. Til' next time ;)

Translations:

taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu - all the planets of space flushed into my butt!

shensheng de gaowan - holy testicle Tuesday

ni tama de tianxia suoyou de ren duo gaisi - fuck everyone in the universe to death!

si san ba - bitch


	8. So I got edges that scratch

AN: I'm sorry I haven't updated in awhile. We are moving, I started a new job, and I am finishing up my last semester in Grad School, so it's been crazy. Thank you to Rachet, Irishbrneyes, birdymain, Shenandoah76209 for the lovely reviews. Now on to the update!

Chapter 8: So I got edges that scratch

Song: Beggin For Thread by Banks

XXX

Riddick's POV

It's dark before she finishes tellin' me about how she got here and tracked me using that knife. Not sure I believe her entirely, there's just something off about… her. I met a lot of different kinds of people before, but this slip of a girl? I haven't met anybody like her before, and something just feels… different. Why the hell is she in my dreams?

"She doesn't know." She says without me asking the question out loud. Well that explains some of it.

My eyes narrow as I appraise her more carefully now. "So you're a reader."

"She is what they tried to make her. The girl was always different, could hear things, know things she shouldn't… 'gifted' they used to call her. She isn't sure she's gifted, this feels more like a curse."

Her scent changes now. It's laced with lead, but there's also a sterile like quality to it. Like the astringent they use in med facilities.

"You been operated on before." I say as more of a statement then a question. It's obvious from her scent.

She doesn't say anything, merely nods; but she doesn't look away either.

The jackal whines a little and trots over to her, as if it's sensing her discomfort. She bends down and pets his head.

"How many times?" I ask.

And now she visibly shudders and closes her eyes. "More than she would like to remember… and more than she can remember."

I can tell she's uncomfortable talkin' about it. But can't say I blame her much. Some things you just want to forget.

She stands up from petting the jackal and looks at me again after a minute of silence between us. "It's getting late…Should we go inside? We still have much to discuss." She again turns to go inside the outpost, but she's dancing around one very big topic, and I ain't settin' foot anywhere till I figure it out.

"You ain't helping me off this rock for nothing. So what's in it for you?"

XXX

…Boros…

It had taken them two days to get to Boros after River had crippled Serenity. Wash had managed to land her in one piece, but the repairs were taking Kaylee a lot longer than she original anticipated. She had been cursing something fierce for the last day while she worked to undo what River had done.

Most of the crew had been avoiding the bridge in order to avoid the mechanics wrath, which is why Mal was sitting in the common area nursing a glass of Kaylee's inter-engine wine. He had made the mistake of asking Kaylee for an update earlier and had to make a hasty retreat out of the bridge to avoid having a wrench hit his head.

Mal's deep in thought and doesn't notice when Book walks in to the common area. It isn't until Book clears his voice that Mal comes out of his daze.

"Any news?"

"Naw, tried to ask Kaylee about it earlier. Don't recommend going near her unless you want a wrench thrown at you too."

Book looks a little surprised now. "She really managed to mess things up that bad?"

"Don't know how, she couldn't have been in there more than a few minutes. Girl was calculated. Knew exactly what to do to cripple us."

Book sets a kettle on the stove to boil before coming over and sitting with Mal. "It's somewhat remarkable."

Mal looks at Book skeptically. "From where I'm sitting just seems plain stupid. Girl's likely to get herself killed the way she carries on. And why run off from us? Or her brother for that matter?"

"Maybe you aren't asking the right questions."

"No, I'm sure I ain't, but it's not like we got a whole lot to go on."

The kettle begins to whistle and Book gets up from the table to get it. "Did she say anything peculiar when she left."

Mal lets out an exasperated sigh. "Girl was always talkin' in riddles, hard to tell what was peculiar and what wasn't with her."

Book chuckles "True." He grabs a few tea satchels and brings them with him over to the table.

They both sit in silence for a few moments, Book fixing his tea and Mal quietly thinking back to what River said as she ran off.

"She did say something that stuck out. Something about us not taking her where she needs to go. Building shiny cages out of gold and glitter. I'm not sure it's still all fuzzy."

Book looks at him seriously now. "All that is gold does not glitter?"

Mal looks at Book a little surprised. "Yeah, something like that. How'd you know that?"

"It's from an poem, in an old Earth-that-was book. I'm surprised she would be quoting that particular poem though."

"Why's that?"

Book's brow furrows together as he thinks about the poem. "Because the subject of that poem was a man." He gets up from the table and goes towards the infirmary. Mal gets up from the table and follows him.

Book hurriedly walks towards the infirmary, where he suspects Simon will be. Sure enough, there he is, taking his stress out by reorganizing the entire infirmary… again.

"Have you got an encyclopedia?" Book says as he walks in, Mal follows behind him.

"Yes, right here." Simon says as he moves over to one of the cabinets with his medical books and takes it out for Book.

Book begins typing into the digital encyclopedia as Mal and Simon share quizzical looks. "What's going on?" Simon asks.

"Not sure yet Doc." Mal says as they both wait for Book to find what he's looking for.

"Here it is!" Book says after a few moments. "All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king."

"What does Tolkien have to do with anything?" Simon asks the other two.

"River recited some of this poem when she ran from Serenity." Book explains.

Simon still doesn't quite understand the significance. "Lord of the Rings was one of her favorite books as a child. She read it when she was four. How a four-year old would even understand it is beyond me, but that was River. She could have just been confused and reciting something she remembered."

Mal shakes his head. "No Doc, your sister knew what she was saying. Girl I saw was driven… determined. This wasn't one of her fits." He thinks for a moment about what River said, and his brow furrows together. "But she said something different than this."

Simon and Book look confused now. "What do you mean?"

"She didn't say from the shadows…" Mal explains and slowly a look of understanding and mild horror comes across his face. "She said Shadow."

All three men's eyes widen as the realization of what Mal has just said begins to sink in.

"Oh my…" Book says.

"But there's no way… how could she even?" Simon stammers out.

Mal just turns and begins hollerin as he walks towards the bridge. "Kaylee! Get my boat running now!"

Simon and Book both stand in silence as the enormity of the revelation comes over them. But before long, concern and worry cloud Simon's face again. "I don't understand, why would she go there?"

"A crownless King." Book replies.

XXX

River's POV

She turns and looks at him again, waiting for him to go on. "And don't say you don't get shit. Readers always got a hidden agenda."

She sighs. He's going to be stubborn as a mule. "It's hard to explain." She says as innocently as she can muster. She isn't ready to tell him everything…

But he isn't yielding. "Try."

Her eyes narrow at the pig-headed male. "In her dreams you were much more…'muchier.' You've lost your muchness."

"Well, you been stabbed in the back enough and that'll happen."

This is certainly going no where fast. One of them will have to concede. She huffs in frustration. "Fine…She will try."

"Was that so hard kid?"

Her eyes narrow at the _hundun_ now. "Repetition is irksome, she is not a child."

"Sure actin' like one."

She rolls her eyes now. "You want her answer or not?"

He doesn't say anything, so she takes that as a yes.

"**_So I got edges that scratch, and sometimes I don't got a filter._** Sometimes she's falling… down rabbit holes… an other times she's dancing on air. When she's dancing she can see the forrest through the trees, can function like a normal girl. But those times are fleeting…disappearing altogether… and _they_ won't listen. And**_ I'm so tired of eatin' all of my misspoken words._** **_ My words can come out as a pistol, And I'm no good at aimin', But I can aim it at you. _**You can finish what they started."

"Finish what exactly?"

"Training me."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard her. She wishes for you to finish what they started. They wanted a weapon they could control. They left bits and pieces behind that are held together by frail threads. **_I know my actions, they may get confusin', But my unstable ways is my solution to even space. _**She wishes for you to remold her, make her into stone. **_To sew this hole up that they ripped in my head. _**To make her whole, she has to be like you.**_"_**

He doesn't say anything, but he's speaking volumes to her at the same time. His memories of another slip of a girl…Jack… flash through his mind. _What is it with girls and the hero worship._

"It's not the same." She says.

He laughs. "Sure seems that what to me."

"Jack had a choice… the girl did not… she was a toy…a slave to the scientific process. She has to finish what they started in order to regain her choice… her freedom. You know that… you've seen it… bits a pieces, but you have seen what they did to her… **_That's why you wanna come out and play with me…_** you're curious. Curious to see if she's an animal… like you."

She watches as her words slowly sink in, slowly start to permeate the walls he was working hard to rebuild. He may want to avoid being 'civilized,' but he always will despite his best efforts. He's seen her in his dreams… wants to explore what he's seen. And the prospect of the game is tempting him.

"Seems like you're getting more outta this deal than me, kid."

Her irritation flashes again, and she grinds her teeth to avoid giving him what he wants. "What would you require then, _Richard_?" She practically growls out his name now.

**_Don't know what you were getting yourself into.  
><em>****_You should have known, secretly I think you knew._**

XXX

AN: Hope you all enjoyed this update. I'll try and update more frequently after this next week (last week of the semester woohoo!) Til' next time ;)


	9. Maybe then she'll ask you all sweet-like

AN: Yeah, so I am updating a lot sooner than I anticipated. I can't seem to write my paper for class, but the fanfic comes out no problem. In truth, you all have Rachet to thank for this being posted today. Rachet your review started me thinking about a few things and I really wanted to set the stage for them ;) I won't say any more than that for now. Shenandoah76209 you also rock, because without fail your comments give me a massive plot bunny infestation, so thanks. Now on with this show!

Chapter 9: Maybe then she'll ask you all sweet-like

Song: The Dragster Wave by Ghinzu

XXX

River's POV

She watches as the slow smirk spreads across his face. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of…agreement." He says with a low purr in his voice. He's taunting her… testing her. Trying to see how she'll respond. But he should know better than to try and toy with her.

**_It seems during the day that I'm a spy reincarnated  
>Into a very strange love affair between a dream and a man<em>**

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest in mild annoyance. He stalks closer to her now, a swagger in his step. She watches as he circles around her… trying to intimidate her. She hears the faint scraping of a blade being unsheathed. She waits until the last moment before the blade comes closer to her skin to turn and face him. The blade in her hand comes to rest against the skin above his femoral artery, as his rests against her jugular.

**_It's seems during the night that I can't even close my eyes  
>I gotta tell you about my sweet living nightmare<br>I fall in love with, every night_**

He chuckles now. "Strong survival instinct."

Her eyes narrow at him. "Your mind betrays you. She knows you're toying with her. Repetition is irksome. She is not a child… so stop treating her as one." She removes the blade from his leg, and he removes the one on her neck.

"Feisty too."

**_Your love is a dragster wave. It makes us breath like two machines  
>Flower lust, my hurricane, you turn my blood into gasoline<em>**

She rolls her eyes again. "Here's whats going to happen _Richard, _the girl is has come a long way to seek your assistance. When you pull your head out of your _ai ya chu shie fook, _we can talk about what you will require as compensation. In the meantime, she is tired and is going to go inside and get some much needed rest."

And with that she turns and walks into the outpost, loudly slamming the door behind her. Her rage and annoyance are barely contained under her skin. She can feel it seeping out of her… the urge to break something… destroy something beautiful. It's was always there… but the Academy amplified it. And it's getting harder and harder to control.

**_And we sweat, and it's sweet  
>And we breath like machines<br>And we play, and we pray 'til we find hidden sins_**

She stomps over to the nearest counter and looks for something she can break. Her hands are shaking when she picks up the first of the dusty booze bottles nearby and throws it agains the wall. Her hands reach for another one as she hears the door creak open and she turns and throws in in that general direction.

She watches as the bottle smashes with a satisfying clash against the wall a few inches from his head.

**_And we crash, and we burn every moment in turn  
>every thing we've learned to forget will return<em>**

"Thought you weren't a child." He says with a chuckle.

"_Tsao ni zuzong shiba dai! _SHE ISN'T! She just needs to break something to avoid slaughtering your stubborn ass." She throws another bottle in his direction, and this time he has to duck to avoid being hit. The jackal had ben following his master inside smartly decided to go back outside to avoid anything being thrown in his general direction, and Riddick closes the door behind him.

He's laughing loudly now. "There are other ways to blow off steam." He says with a slightly devilish grin.

**_You'll leave on your knees  
>You'll cry, I'll please<em>**

She hears vague tendrils of his thoughts now… see's what he is imagining in his head. He's still trying to toy with her… well two can play at that game.

"Oh yes, you are right." She says as she turns and walks over to him. She tries to emulate the way that Inara walks and carries herself now… with an assured confidence and sway. His laughing stops as she draws closer.

**_Combustible tears, destructible fears  
>And we crash and we burn every second in turn<br>Every thing that we learned to forget will return._**

She stands in front of him… her palms coming to rest against his chest. He doesn't move, just looks down at what she might do. She lifts her head so that her eyes meet his googled one, and he moves a hand up to remove them so he can really look at her.

She smiles at him, and as a slow smirk spread across his face, she proceeds to knee him in the groin.

XXX

Riddick's POV

I realize half a second too late what she has planned, and I double over in pain as her knee connects with my groin. I'm coughing as the pain shoots through my body. _Ta shi suoyou diyu de biaozi de ma!_

"She is not a whore. Maybe if you stop acting like such a _hundan_ she would not have to resort to such antics."

I can't help but chuckle now. This girl is a pistol. "Your antics ain't doin' much to prove you ain't a child."

She laughs now. "Said the pot to the kettle." She walks back over to the counter and grabs another bottle. This time she doesn't throw it at me and removes its lid and taking a long pull from it.

Her face winces as she moves it away from her lips. "Sure you can handle that?"

"Doesn't matter. She's tired and this is going to make whatever other games you try to play much more tolerable."

I walk over and grab the bottle out of her hands and take an even longer swig than she did. It burns on it's way down, but the warmth it spreads isn't too bad.

She glares at me as she tries to grab the bottle back from me. "No way. You had enough little girl." I tell her as I hold it away from her. "But maybe if you ask all sweet like I'll give it back."

She huffs and turns around and grabs another bottle before starting to look through the cabinets nearby. I take another swig as I watch her. She isn't what I expected from the dreams. She looks all sweet, but from what I've seen so far she's full of piss and vinegar too. And as I look at her up close she looks a bit older, harder, than she had in the dreams. Like her past has weighed heavy on her and made her older than she is. And she's damn cute when she's mad… the view of her ass ain't half bad.

XXX

River's POV

She shutters a little as the images in his head filter into hers. She had gotten used to such thoughts about females from Jayne while she was on Serenity or catching glimpses of what the Captain thought of Inara, but it was entirely different to be the one the thoughts were about. It was something she had never experienced, and sent a shiver up her spine.

He chuckles behind her. "What's the matter? Not likin' what you hear?" He says tauntingly.

She throws him a glare over her shoulder and continues looking through cabinets for EMRs to eat. "She's heard much worse." She says. The alcohol had started to have it's desired effect though, and instead of her words coming out like barbed wire they come out with a small hint of amusement.

He wasn't what she expected. She doesn't know why but she expected him to be more… serious… edgy even. But he was decidedly more playful. Albeit, like a cat playing with a mouse it intends to eat.

"There anything decent to eat in there?" He says as he peers into the cabinet she had just opened.

"Not unless you like the taste of fowl EMRs." She says as she wrinkles her nose at the contents.

"I'll pass." He says as he walks over to the table nearby and takes a seat.

After another minute she gives up her search and joins him at the table. They sit in silence now, each nursing the bottle they have in their hands. It's weird, she had imagined it would be easier to talk to him since she had seen in him her dreams for so long. But now that he's actually in front of her she finds it difficult to think of something to say.

But the more swigs he takes she can feel his curiosity growing stronger, and he unfortunately breaks the silence by being an ass. "So you as feisty in bed as you are when your mad?"

She rolls her eyes. "You wish you had a snowball's chance in hell of finding out."

He leans forward and looks at her in mock seriousness. "Oh, make no mistake, I will. But only after you ask me, all sweet like."

She feels her cheeks redden at his suggestion, but refuses to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging it. Instead she taunts him with her own remark. "No, I imagine it will be you, _Richard B. Riddick_, who asks her all sweet like to find out what she tastes like, feels like."

"Is that so?"

She smirks at him and takes another swig of her drink as a small not entirely innocent idea starts to form in her head. "She'd be willing to bet on it."

"Really now." He says with a feral grin, but she refuses to backdown.

"Yes…she would."

"What are the terms then?"

She mulls over things in her head. She may be a reader and have glimpses of things, but she is hardly clairvoyant in the traditional sense. But a smile twists on to her face as she thinks about suitable terms. "Have you read the works of Shan Yu?" She asks curiously.

"Pretend you're talking to someone educated in the penal system." He says gruffly. "Better yet, don't pretend."

"He was a psychotic dictator who fancied himself quite the warrior-poet. Wrote volumes on war, torture... the limits of human endurance."

He doesn't flinch. "That's nice. What's it got to do with this bet?"

"He said... "Live with a man forty years. Share his house, his meals, speak on every subject. Then tie him up and hold him over the volcano's edge, and on that day, you will finally meet the man."

He looks at her skeptically now. "So what's your point?"

"She doesn't think you can allow yourself to be who you really are."

He scoffs now. "Kid, this is who I really am."

She ignores the kid comment and continues though. "No, this is a front… a mask you wear. You want to forget… forget about being civilized. Forget about the people you lost, because you think if you can then it makes it easier to accept that there aren't any good people still left in this world. You practice telling yourself this long enough, you get good at it. You tell yourself a hundred lies a day, and eventually it sounds like the truth. Everyone betrays everyone, so why should you care?"

He growls at her now. "Everyone does betray everyone kid."

"No… that's what you want to tell yourself so you can forget. But you can't… you carry those memories with you… like she carries her scars. If you can acknowledge that… then maybe, just maybe then she'll ask you all sweet like to take her to bed."

XXX

AN: Yeah, so I am kinda evil, I know. But this builds the tension between them so nicely. Til' next time. ;)

Translations:

_ai ya chu shie fook - _damn smelly asshole

_Tsao ni zuzong shiba dai! - _fuck eighteen generations of your ancestors

_Ta shi suoyou diyu de biaozi de ma - _whores in hell


	10. No hunting like the hunting of man

AN: So... I had one of the worst weeks of my year this week. Long story short, would really appreciate some positive feedback on this chapter. Thank you Shenandoah76209, Irishbrneyes, and Rachet for the reviews, you guys are rockstars. Rachet you are going to be getting even more of a taste of what's to come, so hope you like this update.

Chapter 10: No hunting like the hunting of man

Song: The Beginning is the End is the Beginning by The Smashing Pumpkins

XXX

Riddick's POV

I study the slip of a girl on the other side of the table. There isn't a hint of deception in her scent… it's still blood, gunpowder, and cinnamon… Damn if it's not intoxicating. Girl is feisty as hell, and I'm curious to see if what I asked holds true.

"Have to accept the bet if you want to try and find out." She says with a mischievous grin.

"Fuckin' readers." I growl out. "How the fuck am I even supposed to show you who I really am?" I say as I take another swig of booze.

"Oh silly Strider, she's sure you will figure something out. Even Beren won Luthien's heart. Besides…" She says as her grin grows wider. "You will have all the time in the world to figure it out as you make her out of stone and complete her training."

"You speak in more riddles than the fuckin' Sphinx." We both sit there in silence for a minute. I can tell she isn't going to let up on this training bullshit. It's more than a little irritating. "Fine, I'll fuckin' train you."

She claps her hands together excitedly. "Excellent."

I just glare at her a little more. "You know… you are one of the most difficult women I have ever met, and I don't even know your fuckin' name yet."

"Apologies." She smirks and gets up from her end of the table and walks towards me. "River Marie Tam, reader, prodigy, dancer." She says as she extends her hand to me to shake it.

I take her small hand in my own. Her skin isn't as smooth as I would have expected. There are some faint callouses on her hands, like they were tougher and had begun to fade…Interesting.

"Richard B. Riddick, convict, murderer, and all around bad-guy, but you already knew that."

XXX

…Serenity…

Mal had another wrench thrown at him when he stormed into the bridge and demanded that Kaylee get them flying that day. But he didn't relent, and after a few more tense hours she had managed to do just that. Serenity was ready to fly, but the crew still had a few issues to discuss. "What we got here is we got a choice to make." Mal says to the rest of the crew sat in the common area. "We got an idea of where River is, but after this stunt she pulled can we trust her?"

There is a pause before Zoe speaks up. "I'm not sure she would intentionally hurt any of us."

"Butchers knife!" Jayne practical yells.

"Anyone we can't spare." Zoe amends.

Wash raises his hand. "I agree with Zoe."

"Thank you dear." Zoe says to him.

"She did a hell of a job on Serenity." Kaylee says somewhat angrily, but it subsides after a moment. "But I'm with Zoe, I don't think she meant to hurt any of us. Just wanted to make it so we couldn't follow her."

"We can't just leave her out there. She wouldn't survive, there's nothing there." Simon says trying to emotionally appeal to the crew.

"Which is why it's rather peculiar she would go there. As far as we know it's black rock… and one I ain't too fond of visiting." Mal says sternly.

"But if it's really a black rock, then why would she go there?" Book asks skeptically.

"Girl said something about us not takin' her where she needed to go before she ran off. Could be she knows something we don't." Mal concedes.

Simon is still at a loss for words for the entire situation. "She's always been highly intuitive…maybe she…" He says mainly to himself before Mal interrupts.

"I don't think she's intuitive, Doc. I think she's a reader." Mal says sternly.

"Psychic?" Inara asks skeptically.

Zoe also chimes in. "Is that even remotely possible?"

Mal deflects both of their questions to Simon. "You tell me Doc, you spend the most time with her."

Simon tries to think about the possibilities that are being suggest now. "Well, they've, uh... they definitely altered the way she reacts to things. Even the way she perceives. But I'm not…"

Wash interrupts Simon now. "Psychic, though? That sounds like something out of science fiction."

Zoe shoots him a rather amused glance now. "We live in a space ship, dear."

"So?" Wash says as he turns towards his wife and shrugs.

Jayne has been processing what has been said and joins the conversation. "Whoa, back up a second. Are you saying she really reads minds?"

"Or near enough. Am I alone thinking along these lines?" Mal asks his crew.

There is a moment where everyone is silent and looks around at each other before they shake their heads in the negative. "No." Book vocalizes for the group.

Jayne slams his hand on the table now. "Well… I don't like the idea of someone hearin' what I'm thinkin'." He says angrily.

"No one likes the idea of hearing what you're thinking." Inara replies in mild disgust.

"The Alliance could have any number of uses for a psychic." Book says cryptically.

"A psychic, or an assassin?" Zoe questions sensing his unspoken concern.

Again, the crew remains silent. They sit there taking in everything that has just been said. Mal looks around at his crew and takes in the looks on their faces. Some show fear… others show worry, and he isn't sure of what the right thing to do in this situation would be. The silence is only broken when Book speaks up.

"There's another issue we need to address. River quoted Tolkien before she left. A crownless King. If she truly is a reader, I firmly believe she isn't going to be alone when we find her."

"You thinkin' we're walking into a trap?" Mal asks Book seriously.

"I'm not sure. But I think we need to start monitoring for any transmissions from Shadow. Might be able to determine who we're likely to meet down there."

XXX

River's POV

"So what do you have in mind for training?" He asks her after their introductions. "Something splashy?"

"Of course, she would not settle for less from you." She says as she walks back over to the other side of the table. "She proposes a game."

He chuckles now. He knows what she is going to say. He's heard it before. "Let me guess, we play for blood."

She feels her self smile wickedly at him now. "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and for those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter. She thought it would be the perfect way for you to train her."

"Don't have an abundance of armed men lying around though."

"But we would if you called them." She motions to the emergency beacon in the corner of the room.

"You sure that's a good idea?" He asks skeptically. Her only response is her raising one perfectly arched eyebrow.

"Right, reader. Forget I asked." He says sarcastically.

He gets up and goes over towards the beacon now. "You ready for this then?"

She nods. "She's just going to step outside while you make your call. She wouldn't want to spoil the surprise." The girl gets up from the table and quickly retreats towards the door. As the door is about to click shut she can hear the beacon whirr to life and begin scanning the room.

The fatigue of the trip is starting to weigh on her, and she moves to sit on a box near the door. Her eyes are starting to grow heavy now, and she knows she won't be able to fight off sleep for very much longer. Before long she feels her eyelids close and her mind drifts off.

_She feels the dust that the wind is picking up settle on her skin… Feels the thunder and clouds rolling in behind them, there's electricity in the air, and it's not just from the storm clouds._

_"__Long wait for backup." His voice reverberates in her ears. "In case you were thinking about fixing the beacon and calling for help."_

**_Send a heartbeat to the void that cries through you  
>Relive the pictures that have come to pass<br>For now we stand alone_**

_"__Riddick, I don't give a fuck about the backup…cause I still got all kinds of gear that could ruin your day in a hurry. So you go find another fuckin' cave, you keep running, you keep hiding, doesn't matter me none…cause in the end I will find you." Johns voice booms through their confiscated radios._

**_The world is lost and blown  
>And we are flesh and blood disintegrate<br>With no more to hate_**

_She can hear their thoughts humming in her brain… non-honorable intentions…painted faces… and wicked lies. Their past seeps into her and she knows which ones will be trouble. They will have to be the first to die._

_"__Look South." She purrs into her radio._

_Now thoughts of confusion and trepidation creep in to their minds. This changes the game… changes the odds, and they don't like that. Bounty hunters never do._

**_Delivered from the blast  
>The last of a line of lasts<br>The pale princess of a palace cracked_**

_"__Who the fuck is that?"_

_"__I don't believe it."_

_"__The balls on this fuckin' guy."_

_She watches the three men as they walk towards them. They drop their shivs in the dirt and continue to walk towards the three men. They are there to parle… reach a gentleman's agreement, no need to spill their blood… yet. One by one they begin to take their weapons out of their holsters, a show of good faith._

**_Time has stopped before us  
>The sky cannot ignore us<br>No one can separate us  
>For we are all that is left<em>**

_But now she sees a flicker… an outline of a figure. It's momentary… a blink and you will miss it glimpse, like a cigarette burn in an old film reel. But she saw it… saw him, and she knows in the pit of her stomach they don't belong there. Her stomach twists into knots. _

_It's changing… she can feel it._

**_The echo bounces off me  
>The shadow lost beside me<br>There's no more need to pretend  
>Because now I can begin again<em>**

She wakes up to someone shaking her arm. She's dazed and therefore a little defensive, and not entirely surprised when she feels her hand connect with something that makes a crunch and hears a groan.

She watches as Riddick staggers back a few paces from her and holds his nose. "What the fuck is your problem." He says as he holds his nose.

"Sorry." She says as she looks down at her hands sheepishly. "They used to come for her when she was dreaming. Easier to implant subliminal suggestions. Fractured her reality."

He glares at her silently now, but she hears his mind asking questions and cursing about unstable women.

She returns his glare now. "Fair warning. Women get the last word in every argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument."

His mind quiets and he just looks at her. His jackal comes up and whines a little at his master now. It's getting late and he wants to return to his den. "He's right, we should go." She says to break their silent staring match.

It's his turn to raise an eyebrow at her now. She merely shrugs. "Animals are easier to read."

He doesn't say anything and another moment passes before he turns and starts back towards his den. She silently follows behind him.

XXX

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this update. I'll try and post another soon. Til' next time. ;)


	11. Anger is a killing thing

AN: I want to say thank you to everyone reading. You guys made my day yesterday, and I really appreciate that. KagomesDarkHeart, Irishbrneyes, Shenandoah76209, Rachet, and BirdyMain you are all amazing =) I hope you guys like this update. Now on with this show!

Chapter 11: Anger is a killing thing

Song: Hysteria by Muse

XXX

Riddick's POV

I don't know what it is about me that seems to attract the strays. First Jack, then Jackal, and now this slip of a girl. Girl may be feisty as hell and smell intoxicating, but that doesn't mean I'm exactly excited at her tagging along. I'm not a fuckin' babysitter, and I shouldn't have to deal with this. People… and attachments… just slow you down.

But if this reader has anything different to say, she keeps it to herself for once. Man can only take so much of other people sifting through his thoughts. We walk back towards the den in relative silence. It's a quiet night, just the rustling of the grass blowing in the wind and a few insect noises to be heard.

Jackal is plodding along next to me, but occasionally drops back to walk near the girl. I watch them out of the corner of my eye. It's interesting…the way that she looks at him and responds to certain whimpers he makes.

"He's trying to figure out what she is." She says from behind me. I slow down so we are walking next to each other now. "He hasn't seen one of her kind before. She's explaining." She says as if it makes all the sense in the world.

This girl is confusing as hell. "He's seen me though."

"True, but he recognizes you as an animal. The girl, he doesn't know what to call."

"Twisted is what I would call you." I say with a grin.

She giggles a little now. "Why is that?" She asks me.

"Have to be to come lookin' for me."

She outright laughs now. "Oh if only you knew."

XXX

River's POV

They don't talk the rest of the way after that, at least aloud they don't talk. His mind is swimming with thoughts, and she tries her best to keep out of them. It takes a fair amount of effort on her part, so by the time they reach the den she's practically asleep on her feet.

It's exactly as she expected. Cool…dark… with a minimal collection of handmade tools and leathers from animals he's killed.

"Here." He says as he hands her one of the larger pieces of leather from a large stack.

She takes it and wraps it around her shoulders. "Thank you." For the first time, she has to admit to herself that she hadn't thought everything completely through. Because while she knows he won't touch her without her express consent, it's entirely different to be in such small quarters with someone. She feels the blush creep up her cheeks as certain thoughts come into her brain.

He laughs as he watches her standing there awkwardly, and she sends him an icy glare. "Guess you didn't think your little plan all the way through." He says with a small amount of goading.

"She will admit to nothing." She says as she walks towards the other side of the den away from where he is. He chuckles more and flops down on the stack of leathers he is using as a bed roll.

He continues to laugh at his own private joke, undoubtedly at her expense, and she feels her cheeks growing hotter. "What is so amusing?" She finally asks.

"Do you really need me to tell you?" He asks as his laughter dies down.

"It's not polite to peek. Spoils Christmas. Takes the presents away." She says as she sits down across from him.

"You smell interesting." He says as if that's all the explanation she needs.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you smell interesting."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. She doesn't have any more energy to deal with your verbal baiting." She says as she lays down and curls the leather around her. "Get some sleep, we will have company soon." She says as she closes her eyes and allows sleep to claim her.

XXX

Riddick's POV

I watch as she dozes off to sleep. She reminds me of a kitten, cute when they sleep, and feisty as hell when they are awake. But her scent gives her away. I thought the smell of blood had been from an animal instinct in her, something similar to the one in me. But the more I'm around her, the more I know it's something else. Girl talked a big game for not being quiet as experienced as she let on. It's going to be all kinds of fun to see how she reacts to certain things.

Jackal makes a low whimper now and looks at me.

"What?" I ask, not like he can really answer me though.

He turns away from me and goes and curls up next to the girl. "Traitor." I say as watch him.

I lay down and start to nod off.

_It's different than it has been. Normally I see her in some type of open area, but now? Now I see her trapped in some type of cell, and she's naked and crumpled on the floor. Her skin has a slight blueish tint to it and I can tell she's probably freezing. I don't know why, but I feel my blood start to boil at what I see._

_I can't tell if she's awake, drugged, or half asleep, all I can tell is that she's mumbling something. It's quiet, barely a whisper, but I pick up pieces of it._

_"__All but the primitive side… the animal side…ghost lane. A long time between stops. A long time for something to go wrong... "_

_It hits me like a freight train when I realize what she's saying. How the hell can I be seeing this? _

I wake up and instinctively pull a shiv and press whoever is standing over me into the wall. It takes a minute to realize it's the slip of a girl… and that my hand is around her neck with a shiv pressed to her jugular.

"Stand still. The trees ahead and bush beside you are not lost." She says as she looks me square in the eye, almost willing my blood pressure to drop.

I remove the shiv from her neck, but I keep my hand wrapped around her throat. "How the hell did I see that." She doesn't need me to tell her what I saw, I can tell by the glassy look in her eyes she already knows and isn't proud of what I saw.

She looks away before she give me an answer. "She doesn't know."

"Thought you were supposed to have all the answers in that genius brain of yours."

She shakes her head in the negative, well as much as she can with me still holding her throat. "She has always seen you in her dreams. Flashes of the past, moments of the present, possibilities of the future. She always attributed it to her abilities… her curse. Maybe it's proximity, or maybe its something else…but she does not know how to explain why you are starting to see more of her."

I slowly start to loosen up my grip on her neck. It's just then that I realize how close I am to her… and her scent hits me again. I could take what I wanted from her if I wanted to right now.

"But you won't." She says as she glares defiantly at me. "Ruins the fun."

"Fuckin' readers." I say as I move away from her now, trying to put a little distance between her and me. My heart rate is still high and I feel the need to gut something.

"Room service will arrive in thirty minutes." She says with a giggle as if reading my thoughts.

"Oh really?" I say as I get the gist of what she's saying. "Better get a move on so we can see who we've got to play with." I grab a couple more shivs and walk towards the path out of the den. I hear her small footsteps following behind me.

XXX

River's POV

On cue, their ship descends from the sky and lands at the abandoned outpost. It's a sleek ship, built for fast ops. The way the ship descends reminds her of Icarus. He was flying on borrowed wings and living on borrowed time too. But they don't know that their damnation is watching them now.

"Lesson one kid. Time for some recon." Riddick says from his spot next to her.

She shoots him a dirty look now. "She is not a child, stop patronizing her."

"Whatever kid, just tell me what you see…without listening to their heads."

She watches as the bounty hunters descend the ramp quickly in a loose formation. One kisses the dirt as he steps off the ramp. The last man saunters off, not holding his gun in a defensive manner.

"They are clearly not methodical in their formation, but it is clear that each person has specific tasks. The last one to descend the ramp has a noticeable swagger to him…an air that separates him from the rest. He's the lead." The girl says as she points him out to Riddick.

He nods. "The cocky ones usually are."

The point man and one of the other men duck into the outpost now, while the others continue to walk the perimeter.

"These men are not honorable. They lack the spine needed to be. They want to believe they are on the right side of the law, are doing what needs to be done. But they are just thugs, wolves hiding in plain sight."

Again he nods. "So what does that tell you?"

She feels her mouth stretch into a cheshire cat grin. "That they will not play fair… and neither should we."

He returns her smile. "Clever girl."

But something feels off now… there are tiny pinpricks along her skin. Someone doesn't belong here. Her smile falters. "Something feels off." She says as she turns back towards the mercs.

XXX

Santana goes back into the ship to pull a node from the power supply. He stops just before he is about to go down the ramp again.

"Hey Luna." He says to the kid behind him.

Luna moves to stand next to Santana as checks their inventory list. "Yeah?"

"Wake her up, kick her out of bed."

"But she's our prisoner, isn't she going to…"

"I don't care about that, we're running big now. Cut that 60 kilos loose." He says with a sneer as he walks back down the ramp.

Luna sets down the inventory list and moves to do as he is told. He grabs the key to the cuffs, along with an amp to reverse the cryo. He puts the amp into the cryo cuff and hears the hiss as it begins to go into the prisoner's system. Now he moves to undo the leg cuffs.

Suddenly, she stirs to life and starts screaming. "Get away! Get away from me." She says as she trashes at Luna.

"Shh! Stop!" Luna says as he tries to calm her down.

"What do you want now?" She asks with a raspy voice.

"I'm gonna take off the restraints." He say as he moves closer to her. "Okay?"

She looks at him skeptically. "I don't want them off."

"No it's not like that now. Nobody is gonna touch you again. Santana's head is into other stuff now." He says as he undos the arm restraints. "It's your lucky day."

Her arms fall limp by her sides as the blood rushes back into them, but she still shoves Luna away from her. "Get away from me." They are both silent for a moment. "What planet is this?" She asks hesitantly.

"Doesn't matter." Luna says.

"But how am I going to survive?" She asks.

"It's got air and water that's all you need to know. Now get going before he changes his mind." Luna says as he motions for he rot go.

She doesn't need to be told twice as she runs out of the ship and down the ramp away from the outpost. Luna watches as she makes it about 50 yards before the shot rings out behind her and the force of the bullet knocks her to the ground.

He turns to see Santana holding the smoking gun in his hands. "I was getting attached to her." Is all he says before he walks back towards the outpost.

XXX

River's POV

She is used to slaughter… they made her see it in the Academy when they butchered the other subjects in their quest for scientific glory. She is used to death… because she swears she has seen herself die a million times on their operating tables, yet her heart just kept beating.

**_It's bugging me, grating me,  
>and twisting me around.<em>**

She shouldn't feel anger right now… shouldn't feel anything for the woman dying in front of her eyes… but she does. She can barely contain the fury she feels pumping through her veins. All she sees is red…and feels a burning desire to paint all the roses red too.

**_Yeah I'm endlessly caving in,  
>and turning inside out.<em>**

She feels him holding her now… and she isn't sure why. It's only a moment later she realizes … she was going to charge in there blindly and she didn't even realize it.

"You go in there now it's suicide." He say as he restrains her. She closes her eyes and counts to five, willing every molecule in her being to calm itself.

**_It's holding me, morphing me,  
>and forcing me to strive.<em>**

"She understands, she does not comprehend." She says as she looks at the woman's lifeless body in front of her. "Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before - it takes something from him. And every time she gets angry she feels a little more of her slipping away."

He turns her to look at him now. "No, that's the civilized side of you talkin'. Anger doesn't take anything away with you. Sometimes, you have to get angry to get things done." He turns her back around to face the mercs.

**_To be endlessly cold within,  
>and dreaming I'm alive.<em>**

"Now tell me what you read." He says in an even voice.

She opens up the gates in her mind and their thoughts trickle in. Thoughts of violence… thoughts itching for a fight… a worthy opponent. And thoughts about credits and platinum… greed is the creed with these lot… with all but one.

"He doesn't belong." She says as she points to the smallest of the bunch.

"Why's that?"

"White… his heart isn't black like the others. This wasn't the life he choose, it was chosen for him. Orphan, no where else to go."

**_I want it now,  
>Give me your heart and your soul.<em>**

Images of Jack flash threw his mind now, but he is quick to push them away. He still doesn't want to think about his scars.

"Good to know." He says after a moment. Another moment of silence passes before he asks her the next question. "So who's the biggest threat? The lead?" He says with a jerk of his head.

She practically laughs and shakes her head. "Peacock. All show."

She scans the others' thoughts now. Each one a bit more sinister than the last. It's the large one that makes her pause, and as a particular string of memories pass thru her head she shivers.

"Him." She says raising a delicate hand to point him out. As she continues to probe his mind her anger grows red hot again, and her hand clenches into a fist.

**_I'm not breaking down,  
>I'm breaking out,<br>Last chance to lose control._**

XXX

AN: We are really getting into the good stuff now, and since I finished my last class for my MA last night (woohoo!) I have a lot more time to write. Hope to have another update for you guys soon. Til' next time ;)


	12. Here comes the neighborhood

AN: Imagine River or Riddick smiling a very evil smile right now and thats me ;) I swear you guys make my day. Thank you SidheHawk, Irishbrneyes, Rachet, and Shenandoah76209 for taking the time to review, it always means a lot to me. So…things are going to get a lot more crowded from here on out people, if you know what I mean. Now let's get on with this show!

Chapter 12: Here comes the neighborhood

Song: Make Me Wanna Die by The Pretty Reckless

XXX

…Serenity…

They were taking turns looking for any kind of transmission from Shadow. They weren't entirely sure what they were waiting for, they just figured that she'd send up some kind of signal…or someone else would. Either way, they figured it was better to know what they might be walkin' into down there. It was Book and Simon's turn on the bridge.

"It's interesting." Book says absentmindedly.

"What is?" Simon asks.

"I'm just wondering what they were trying to do. The people who did this to your sister." Book explains.

Simon scoffs and turns back to look at the deep space coms for any flicker of a signal. "The government did this to her."

"The government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned."

Simon throws a sideways glance towards Book. "Now you're quoting the Captain."

"I'm just wondering if they put her through this just to see what they could create. To break the enemies resistance without fighting as Sun Tzu would have said."

Simon turns to look at Book more critically now. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"If they succeed…and your sister possesses psychic abilities, then it doesn't seem unlikely that they had very specific tasks in mind for her. Because who would suspect a teenage girl of being capable of such things."

"You think she was supposed to be a sleeper agent for them?"

"You tell me? Is it really that far outside the realm of reason?" Book asks

Simon pauses and takes a moment to think over everything. His eyes close and his head falls back against the chair, his face twists into a grimace. "He said something… before I took her out of there. He talked about implanting suggestions subliminally, when she was asleep."

"Who?"

"The Doctor. The one that was in charge of doing this to her." Simon's eyes open now and he looks startled. "We can't tell the others, if they knew…"

But before he can say anything else the deep space coms beep and alert them to a signal being transmitted from Shadow.

Both Simon and Book hurriedly pull the signal up on to the screen in front of them, and both are somewhat surprised and worried by what they see. Book moves to the comm unit. "Captain, you are going to need to see this."

Mal rushes on to the bridge and looks at the printout that Book hands him. "You have got to be kidding me." Mal says as he looks over the transmission from Shadow.

"Sir?" Zoe says as she enters the bridge.

"Taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu! This is not my very best day." He says as he hands her the printout.

"Oh dear." Zoe says as she looks at what Mal hands her.

The transmission was short and to the point. Wanted Fugitive: Richard B. Riddick. Escaped convict, murderer, bounty doubled if brought back dead.

"How the hell are we supposed to go down there now?" Mal asks to no one in particular.

"We don't know for certain she's with him." Book tries to reason.

"You really think that Shepherd?" Zoe asks.

"One can hope."

"She's an eighteen year old girl! And she is trapped on a planet with this!" Simon says he yanks the transmission from Zoe's hands and waves it at Mal. "We have to go!" He pleads.

No one says anything. It's utter silence on the bridge and everyone is waiting on baited breath for Mal to speak. Mal walks over to the com and calls up Wash. "Wash need you to land us there."

Simon lets out the breath he was holding. "She's in a world of trouble when we find her." Mal says to Simon as he turns and leaves the bridge.

XXX

…Back on Shadow…

Santana walks out to one of the small rock formations near the outpost. "Riddick!" He yells out. "The name… is Santana. Shot caller for this crew right here. I am the guy who knows all. Sees all. Beats all."

Various mercs stand around listening to him yell out into the area. "Speakin' kinda strong ain't he?" Vargas asks Falco under his breath.

Falco spits his chew on the ground and shrugs his shoulders. "Tryin' to bait the trap."

Santana yells out again. "I've come all this way…to collect your head in a box. Right here!" He says as he holds up a lucite type box with a bunch of wires attached to it. "So have yourself a fine day now Riddick! Cause I suspect it will be one of your very last."

"Ya well, no need to agitate Riddick anymore, than, you know." Vargas says under his breath again.

Falco turns to leave and spits more chew on the ground. "Anymore than bringing his head back in a box would?" He asks sarcastically before walking back towards the outpost.

Santana is walking into the outpost as well, when he hears something… the buzzing of engines breaking atmo. He turns and looks up at the sky. "Shit. Here comes the neighborhood." He says as he watches not one, but two ships, descend into view.

XXX

River's POV

To say she is not happy would be an understatement. Furious… is a much more accurate description. Livid paints an even better picture. She'd gotten cocky… she knew she had. But she just didn't think they would figure out as soon as they had. This would complicate things.

**_Take me I'm alive,  
>Never was a girl with a wicked mind,<br>But everything looks better when the sun goes down._**

"They aren't supposed to be here." She hisses between her teeth as she watches Serenity and the other ship land.

Riddick chuckles. "What'd you expect? For them to not come lookin' for you? Get over it, your plan wasn't fool-proof. Just calm your ass down and keep quiet."

**_I had everything,  
>Opportunities for eternity,<br>And I could belong to the night._**

She takes a breath to calm herself, and to keep from lashing out at Riddick. "She just expected more time." She says as she watches the ramps for both ships lower. Predictably, Jayne and Zoe are the first to descend from Serenity… guns drawn and lookin' a might twitchier than usual.

**_Your eyes, your eyes,  
>I can see in your eyes.<em>**

She can hear the faint mutterings from both their minds… thoughts of convicts and killers. Bounty hunters and thieves. It's only when Mal descends the ramp that the thoughts of moon-brained girls who deserve to have their hides tanned enters her brain.

"Captain isn't happy." She says as she watches the other merc crew enter the arena with their matchy matchy uniforms.

He grumbles beside her. "Starting to look like a whole lot more than I bargained for kid."

**_Taste me, drink my soul,  
>Show me all the things that I shouldn't know.<em>**

"You'll lose the bet if you back out now." She says with a sly smile. He meets her smile with narrowed eyes. She turns back to watch the scene unfolding. "Deny it all you want Riddick, but your dying to know what she tastes like."

Now dark thoughts enter her mind from his. _"Lot a talk for a fuckin' virgin."_

**_And there's a blue moon on the rise._**

_"_She may be a virgin… doesn't mean she can't show you a thing or two." She hisses at his unspoken insult. "Besides… can't get off this rock alive without her now."

His mind practically yells at her now. "_Fuckin' readers." _She smiles because even though it's minuscule, she knows she won this battle.

**_Every time I look inside your eyes,  
>You make me wanna die.<em>**

XXX

"Howdy." Mal says to the clearly disgruntled man approaching him.

"We've already responded to the distress signal. There's no need for you to be here." Santana says as he approaches the newcomers.

"It's a long haul, could take on some water. Wouldn't mind a little true gravity time either." The point man for the other merc crew says.

"And we aren't here for the distress signal. Lookin' for a kid, think she may have ended up here." Mal says in response.

"A kid? Here? You knew who that was right? On the emergency beacon?" The point man asks.

Mal shakes his head. "Like I said, ain't here for that, just lookin' for a lost kid."

"And like I said… I got this. Wouldn't be here if I didn't know who that was." Santana sneers in response.

It doesn't take a reader to know a fight in brewing underneath the surface. Mal quickly looks between both men as his hand rests on his holster.

"And the concept of backup still has no appeal to you." The point man directs at the disgruntled merc.

"My best here can brawl with anyone. No disrespect here to your crew of yours, who look strong too… with their matchy matchy uniforms."

"Shit, didn't know there was a dress code." Diaz says to Santana.

"Well it's not my intention to jump another man's claim. We'll just pull up a chair and spectate for awhile… help these nice folks find this missin' kid." The point man says as he moves towards Mal to offer his hand.

Mal does not reach his hand out to shake the mercs. "Thanks for the offer, but we got it under control."

"Okay then." The point man says as he walks towards the outpost. The disgruntled merc steps in front of him now.

"What if I do mind."

"Well this is a co-op station pal. It's open to any and all mercs. By the way my name is…" The point says as he offers Santana his hand to shake.

"Too late. That's what your name is friend. Too late."

"Well, tell you what. I won't lift a finger to come help tell you ask me for it." Be brushes past the merc now and into the outpost.

While they retreat into the outpost, Zoe, Jayne, and Mal hang back outside.

"Sir?" Zoe asks waiting for instructions. Before they laded on Shadow the decision had been made to have Inara take Simon and Kaylee in her shuttle and stay in orbit while Serenity checked on things on Shadow. Mal didn't want to have the girls anywhere near the escaped convict if River was with him. Mal had tried to get Book to go too, but he had insisted he would be more help on Serenity since Kaylee wouldn't be there.

"Radio Inara. Tell em' we're gonna need them to stay airborne a while longer." Mal says to Zoe.

She gives him a quick nod and then turns to go back in and do as she was told.

Mal and Jayne walk into the outpost now, still on high alert. They count at least ten mercs when they get inside and Mal clenches his teeth at being in this situation.

"Hey cowboy! Need to pull a node from your ship." Santana says as he walks over to them. "Don't want our bounty makin' off when we aren't looking."

Mal nods and turns to Jayne now. "Have Book pull a catalyzer from the engine. We don't want to give this fugitive any more of a reason to come knocking on our door."

XXX

Riddick's POV

"We got a whole mess of people to deal with now. You got any idea how this is going to shake out?" I ask the girl as we slowly creep back from our observation point.

"Some. But there are still unaccounted for variables. More data is going to be needed before anything conclusive can be determined.

I growl at her answer. "What is it with fuckin' readers being vague as shit."

"It's not intentional. But the calculations change quite frequently. It's hard to know what outcome will materialize."

"Sound more like a mentalist than a reader." I say patronizingly.

She only shrugs. "She doesn't like it any more than you. Now come on. We need to strategize and she will need to go to her mind palace after that and she can't do it here." She says as she quickly walks past me.

Now that just sounds ridiculous. "Your what?"

"It's a memory technique, a sort of mental map." She says as she turns and faces me while walking backwards. "You plot a... a map with a location - it doesn't have to be a real place - and then you deposit memories there that... theoretically, you can never forget anything. All you have to do is find your way back to it."

"Uh huh, and yours is a…"

"Palace, yes." She says with a smirk.

I shake my head. "You just get stranger and stranger kid."

"And what does that say about you?" The slip of a girl asks.

"What do you mean?"

"You would have to be half mad yourself to dream her up."

I laugh now. Kid may be on to something with that one.

XXX

AN: So now we have a whole mess of people, and most of which are bloodthirsty killers. This is going to be tons of fun. On a side note, any song suggestions [particularly of the angry kind ;)] would be appreciated. Til' next time people. ;)

Translations:

_taikong suoyou de xingqiu saijin wo de pigu_ - all the planets of space flushed into my butt!

_qingwa cào de liúmáng_ - frog-humping son of a bitch


	13. Pray for us sinners, I See Fire

AN: Okay, I am really sorry for the long delay… again. I have written, and re-written parts of this chapter several times, and each time I was unhappy with the rabbit hole it was leading me down. I FINALLY think I have something that works for where I want to take this story, so I hope you all can forgive me for the long wait. Big thanks and shout outs to Rachet, niphrandiel, karen1025, Birdymain, Irishbrneyes, Ivy Tearen, and Shenandoah76209 [who inspired one or two of the literary quotes in this chapter ;) have fun picking them out] for the reviews (they always make me smile).

Chapter 13: Pray for us sinners, I See Fire

Song: Ave Maria by Geoff Zanelli (Hitman Motion Picture Soundtrack) and I See Fire by Ed Sheeran (The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug Soundtrack)

XXX

After a few minutes Jayne brings back a catalyzer from the engine and places it in the storage locker with the other two fuel cells. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that the tension in the atmosphere has become so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"So how does a kid wind up here?" The point man asks Mal as he reviews his topographic readout of the area.

"She got spooked, took a shuttle. Shadow was the closest landfall." Mal answers. He doesn't want to say anything more than he needs to. No need for these mercs to get curious.

"Uh huh." The point man says as he look at Mal a little suspiciously. "Long trek out this far."

Mal knows he's fishing for information, and he doesn't like it. Never could trust a merc. "On our way to Boros for a delivery, just happened to be passing through."

"So, you're a transport ship."

"When we need to be."

It's a verbal standoff. Mal knows the merc is sizing him up, and he ain't to happy about it one bit. "Like I said, we're just lookin' for a spooked kid, nothing more."

"Just interesting is all."

"What's that?" Mal asks tersely.

The man looks back up from his map and square into Mal's eyes. "What would have got a kid so spooked to run off here."

XXX

River's POV

Her eyes close, her breathing steadies, and her mind slips away.

_She walks through the hallways… she opens door after door, until she comes to a large set of double doors. Her hands reach out and touch the doorknobs. She takes a breath and then pushes through the doors. She's met with the arid heat and wind of Shadow. _

_It isn't real… it's all a projection… all calculations in her mind, but they are valuable none the less. She walks inside the co-op station and they are all there… all the pawns in her orchestrated game of chess. She ghosts around them as they continue with their useless preparations. She can feel each and every one… and the disgusting tendrils that seep from some of their minds. _

**_Ave Maria, gratia plena.  
>Maria, gratia plena.<em>**

_Santana's crew makes her skin crawl. Every molecule that they take up is a waste of perfectly good space. They are worse than the smell of human excrement and bile. She will be happy to watch the life drain out of the lot when they paint the roses red… all but one that is. A white rose among black hearts… he will be spared._

**_Maria, gratia plena.  
>Ave, ave dominus.<em>**

_The other's won't like it. But it is a wise father that knows his own child… and this one should do just fine to replace the other. In truth it would be a vast improvement, but he has to hear it for himself before he will believe. After all, he came all this way to find out what really happened. _

**_Dominus tecum._**

_As for her own family, if she could use that word yet… they would be less than pleased after tonight, but I can't be helped. They will start to understand, because they won't be able to avoid it… can no longer run from what they will recognize and fear. We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy… and on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. She cannot stop what has been put in place… they never gave her the choice. _

**_Sancta Maria,  
>Ora pro nobis<em>**_._

_She's standing in the middle of the co-op station now… watching… waiting, and with each breath she takes time speeds up and spins around her. She sees everything. The confusion… the unpreparedness from Santana's crew, and the feigned lack of interest from the other group. They won't lift a finger tonight… which gives them time to play. _

**_Nobis peccatoribus,  
>Nunc et in hora<em>**

_She hears the mechanical hiss of the cyclops outside… can feel it's eye watching them in the distance, waiting to strike out. It will need to go before they can have their fun._

**_Mortis nostrae._**

She feels her mind slip back into her body… her skin prickles as her senses return. And as they do, she is very aware of his looming presence.

XXX

Riddick's POV

Her breath was shallow enough that she could have been a corpse without a second guess. Every muscle in her body was at once tightly wound and eerily relaxed as she sat against the stone wall of the cave. The only think that indicated that she was still living was her eyes. They would flutter occasionally, like what you see when someone's dreaming. Maybe that's all any of this is anyways.

"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." She says as her eyes flutter open. "Stop looming." She says with a somewhat icy glare.

"Merely observing." I say as I stand in front of her. She doesn't say anything and rises to her feet.

"So?" I ask her.

She grins and answers with a look that mimics my question to her. It instantly raises my blood pressure.

"Are you always such a psychopath kid, or is this a recent development?"

Her smile falls now. "She's not a psychopath, _Richard._ She's a high-functioning sociopath. She knows you know the difference, so don't insult her intelligence or your own by insinuating otherwise. Now can we put the petty name calling to the side and plan tonight's game, or is that going to be too much for your short attention span?"

I don't say anything but motion her with my hand to go on then.

"Thank you. Now then, we will need to blind Polyphemus before we can approach the den of thieves. We should…"

"Hold up, what is a Polyfemur- whatever."

She huffs in annoyance. "The giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in the Odyssey. In our case a cybernetic defense measure used to detect heat signatures."

"Couldn't you just say that instead?"

Her eyes narrow and she folds her arms over her chest, a look that clearly screams no and makes her look sexy as hell.

I chuckle. "While the whole glaring daggers thing is kinda sexy, you gotta work on your communication skills."

She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "Moving on. Do you have any suggestions for how we can disable it?"

"Why not just have them do it for us?"

"And how do you propose that?"

"Those things rely on ground sensors placed around the perimeter of its field. Get jackal to grab a sensor. Play around with it enough and they will turn the damn thing off out of annoyance."

She smiles again now. "Excellent, she hadn't considered that."

"So what then?"

"We will need to procure a few items before tomorrow… items that can easily be found on several of the mercs that will be patrolling tonight."

"So we talking about a scavenger hunt?"

She shrugs her shoulders. "More or less."

"Why not just ghost them all? Kick off this rock?"

"She needs to see how a true predator hunts. That cannot be accomplished in one night… and because then you would lose the game."

I glare at her. Seems like a whole lot of effort. "Dunno kid, this game sure sounds like more trouble than it's worth."

"Oh you'll find this game worth playing," she said enthusiastically. "Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess! And besides… you wouldn't want to miss your chance to see what she tastes like, would you?" She said with a wicked grin at the end.

Girl is all kinds of infuriating… fuckin' readers… but she was right. It was a game worth playing. Especially if she wound up the prize.

XXX

… Back at the co-op…

Mal, Zoe, and Jayne are standing outside the co-op station to talk privately.

"Feng-lei girl got us in a mess of trouble now." Jayne says as he absentmindedly kicks the dirt.

"We just gotta keep our heads down, wait for River, and pray there ain't no more surprises."

"Ah come on Mal, we're trapped on a gorram rock with a handful of bounty huntin' mercs, a wanted fugitive, and a freakin' pyscho killer, yeah, that's a fun mix."

"Jayne, your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that."

Jayne looks like he has something to say in response, but Zoe cuts him off. "I can't believe I am saying this, but Jayne has a point, Sir."

Mal sighs. He knows they are right, but it's not like they can leave. "Look, we know River came here with the intention to meet up with someone. Granted all possible evidence tells us that someone is a very dangerous killer, but it's likely she's gonna come find us to leave here. Those mercs inside are as dumb as they come, ain't no way in the 'verse they could find River, even…" He stops as someone walks out of the co-op station and towards one of the other ships. "Even if they were lookin' for her."

"Why not?" Zoe retorts. "I mean, let's face it, River is a might unpredictable."

Mal is thrown by the question. He hadn't really thought about that at all. "Cause…?" He offers up sheepishly.

"Oh yeah, this is gonna go great." Jayne says with mild disgust and annoyance.

"Just look like you two are trying to track our missing kid and if anyone gets nosy, just, you know...shoot 'em." Mal says as he starts to walk back inside the co-op.

"Shoot 'em?" Zoe asks somewhat shocked.

"Politely." Mal says quietly before ducking back inside.

Zoe and Jayne share a somewhat surprised glance at the Captain's response before Jayne heads back towards Serenity.

"Where are you going?" Zoe calls after him.

Jayne just yells over his shoulder. "To get Vera!"

XXX

…Several hours later…

River's POV

_She feels them… cutting into her… digging in with their claws and refusing to let go. She couldn't scream… no they had taken that little privilege away from her… gagged her and stripped her bare. Laid her open for their penetrating gaze._

**_And if we should die tonight,  
>Then we should all die together.<em>**

_They were getting worse… and every time they came for her she knew it wouldn't stop. Knew that the pain, the needles, the knives… and the scars… would continue to be there when she woke up._

**_Confined in mountain halls,  
>We got too close to the flame.<em>**

_She tried to slip away. Tried to let her mind wander to save itself if she could not save her body. But she always woke up after, never sure of herself or what had happened. That's the way they liked it. An endless cycle of suppressing her memories. But what was worse is they didn't suppress enough. _

**_And I see fire,  
>Hollowing souls.<em>**

_She didn't want to see it… didn't want to feel their hands dragging her away. Didn't want to see the sadness in his eyes. But she always did. _

**_I see fire,  
>Blood in the breeze.<em>**

_His was always the last face she saw as the doors slammed shut. And the look on it always killed her._

**_And I hope that you remember me._**

She woke up startled and mildly confused. She looked around the cave somewhat frantically, not sure if she had truly woken up.

"You dozed off." Riddick said behind her.

She lets out a breath and turns towards him.

"The girl was just dreaming." She replies.

"Sounded more like a nightmare."

She laughs nervously. She can hear the questions building in his head, and she does not want to go in that direction right now. "Isn't it interesting how the sounds are the same for an awful nightmare and great sex?" She says with the best flirtatious giggle she can.

But his mind isn't buying it. "You know, I knew a reader. An elemental. Always holding stuff back. Always playing things close to the chest."

She doesn't say anything as he walks towards her, but she can feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge.

He stops in front of her and then yanks her up to her get before she has a chance to react. He pushes her against the wall.

"What aren't you tellin' me?" He asks gruffly.

She winces slightly, but his hands won't leave bruises. "She can't…you wouldn't understand." She replies softly.

"Why the hell not?" He questions.

She pushes his hands away from her and turns around. She wraps her arms around herself. She can feel the tears threatening to fall and she cannot let him see her like this. He caught her off guard, and she refuses to be weak. "Nobody ever did, or ever will, escape it. It always finds you. It's always changing, but it's still there."

"And what is it you are trying to escape?" He whispers in her ear.

She turns and faces him. Her eyes meeting his mercurial ones. "Perhaps the same thing you do. We all have our curses, don't we? Fate is a cruel mistress."

XXX

AN: Yeah a kind of ominous way to leave it, I know. But River was always kind of ominous anyways. Hope you all enjoyed this update! Til' next time ;)


	14. Meat for the Market

AN: I'm back! Again, I am sorry for the longish time between updates (Life is crazy at the moment). Thank you The Doctor Rose, Irishbrneyes, Birdy Main, Rachet, Shenandoah76209, and Pfuunkmalfunkshun for the reviews and messages. I hope you all enjoy this update.

Chapter 14: Meat for the Market

Song: All Rise by Wovenwar

XXX

River's POV

She looks down at her hands and waits for him to say something. But when he does it surprises her.

"Bullshit." He growls.

Her eyes snap up to his.

"Do you know how many times I've been crossed out, left for dead, or stabbed in the back? There is no such thing as fate, kid. Just the choices you make."

She's somewhat dumbfounded. This isn't what she expected. "But…she sees…" She stammers, but he won't let her finish.

"_Fay hwa! _You keep actin' as if everything you see has to be reality. It doesn't!"

She feels a few tears stream down her face, but they aren't from sadness… they are from anger. "_Jien tah duh guay!_ When you are mad, mad like this, you don't know it. Reality is what you see. When what you see shifts, departing from anyone else's reality, it's still reality to you. Do you know how hard it is to see something that may or may not happen? But that usually does? Do you know what it's like to see everyone you care about die in front of your eyes?"

She winces at her own words as they tumble out of her mouth. She knows she went to far. Out of everyone, she knows he knows what it feels like the most.

He doesn't say anything for a few moments, but she can feel the rage boiling of of him.

"Life can't be easy. It's not always swell. Don't tell me truth hurts, little girl, 'cause it hurts like hell."

She doesn't read him, but she knows what he means. He knows all to well what it feels like to watch someone die and feel powerless to stop it.

"Let's get one thing straight, you want to have yourself a pity party, don't pull that crap around me. You sought me out remember? You want to learn, then you leave that shit out of it. Cause' I ain't gonna stand for it. _Dong ma_?"

She doesn't say anything but nods and glances up at him.

"Good. Now come on, we got us a game to play." He says as he walks out of the cave.

She stands there for a moment after he leaves. As her tears dry, a smile plays at her lips, because despite what he wants to believe, she's winning their game.

XXX

…Back at the co-op…

An eerie night has fallen over Shadow. The Alliance had bombed Shadow's moon along with the world itself to crush the Independents and insure that they would not rise up again. Now all that remained was a smoldering rock in the sky.

Mal hated being back here. Hated seeing what had become of his home world, and the nothingness that was left. Being here was opening up old wounds, and making him a might twitchy.

"Don't like this sir, not one bit." Zoe says as she comes to stand next to him outside Serenity.

"I'm likin' it less and less the more time we spend here. Just got a bad feelin' about this place." Mal says gruffly.

"You think she'll make a move tonight?"

"Not sure. But if she doesn't make one soon we're gonna go out there and drag her ass back. Gettin' tired of stickin' around this black-rock… and around all these mercs." Mal says the last part under his breath, to make sure no one but Zoe hears him.

They retreat back into Serenity and close up the cargo bay doors as the next shift of mercs take the next patrol. Santana had wanted Serenity's crew out of the way when it came time to hunt Riddick, and they were more than happy to oblige by remaining in Serenity at night.

Santana had all his men shifting patrol positions every hour. He didn't want any of them getting complacent and falling asleep. In reality, he should have been more worried about the cockiness they were developing to dissuade themselves from the amount of danger lurking out in the dark.

"I'm tellin' you, this is total overkill." Nunez says to Falco. "What eleven of us out here now, not countin' them idiots that lost the kid? Should have been a four man op, tops."

Falco looks at Nunez skeptically. "You are jinxing our janx man, and that ain't cool."

Nunez gets angry now. "Hey I don't give a shit what they say! He's one guy."

"Whatever you say man." Falco say as he walks inside the co-op. The other point man and his first mate walk out past him.

They walk towards Santana, who is doing a system's check on the cyclops.

"So I guess that's what passes for a fuckin' moon on this rock." The point man says to himself. "Gonna be a dark night, advantage him. Maybe he's gonna whittle you down, force you to go without sleep."

It's clear he is trying to rattle Santana, but he refuses to let it. "Can't you see I'm busy." Santana shouts at him over his shoulder as he works.

"I'm just sharing my thoughts." The point man says calmly.

"Yeah? Well now that you have, can I politely invite you to step off my fuckin' porch?" Santana yells.

As the point man and his first mate walk back inside, the cyclops begins to whir to life, and picks up a heat signature eastward. None of the mercs move a muscle as the beeping comes over their comms.

Santana walks over and checks the readout. "Standby." He says into his comm. After a minute he pulls an image up on his screen… the outline of a jackal.

"What you got cuz?" Diaz says over the comm.

Santana exhales. "Just some dingo-dongo thing."

"Yeah, I see it now. Want me to take it out?"

"Knock it down. One shot suppressed Diaz."

Diaz fires, but clearly misses the jackal by about five feet.

"Nice work Diaz, very encouraging." Santana remarks with irritation.

Diaz tries to brush it off. "Had something in my eye."

"It's called a scope. Try it next time."

"You got this right?" The point man says into the comm.

"Will you get off my fuckin' frequency!" Santana yells.

But unbeknownst to Santana, he's got more than one person listening in. Back on Serenity Mal, Zoe, Wash, Jayne, and Book are huddled around a small comm they had used to tap into Santana's frequency. Mal didn't trust the man, and wanted to know if something was going to end up knocking on their door before it did. None of them would dare say a word as they listened, even after Wash assured them it was on mute. None of them wanted take the chance.

XXX

Riddick's POV

It wasn't hard to get the jackal to pull one of the sensors, especially since the girl could "speak" to him. I'm still not sure it ain't bullshit, but he seems to understand the looks she gave him. He came running over to where we were crouched after about a minute, and as soon as he drops it at my feet I can hear the whir and beeping of the cyclops in the distance. Now it was time to start the game.

I start slamming the thing against the ground and the beeping gets louder. But after about five minutes, Box Boy is forced to pull the plug and the beeping stops completely.

"Thank fuckin' god!" Someone yells in the distance.

"Fuck off!" Someone else, probably Box Boy, yells back.

I drop the sensor and pull out a shiv as I turn and face the girl. "You ready for this kid?" I throw in the kid remark to get a rise out of her but she doesn't bite this time.

"Death will be... whimsical... today, Strider." She says with a sick smile and starts to creep towards the co-op.

This girl is shaping up to be all kinds of twisted.

XXX

River's POV

The Doctors at the Academy used to pump her full of different drugs before they made her fight their guards. She had been conditioned to fight… to take pleasure in her battle dance. And she still feels it there… the flood of adrenaline and endorphins from going in for a kill. Truth be told, part of her had missed it.

**_…_****_Oh you feel the hunters gaze  
>A shadow even in the dark of night<br>Scheming your early grave…_**

Their plan was simple really… divide and conquer. She would make the first kill…drawing the others towards her and allowing Riddick the element of surprise as he moved in for his kill. She wouldn't need to worry about the white rose… he was on the other side of the complex and would not be in harms way. Tonight it would just be two black hearts… just enough to put some fear in the others' bones and to take a few necessary items.

**_…_****_He's going to leave you dead or dying  
>You never thought you'd be meat for the market<br>What'd you expect when you sold your name…_**

She creeps up behind her target. His mind is not alert in the least… it's filled with greed. It's pitiful really, but typical. What merc wasn't at risk of destroying themselves from greed and stupidity. But did he honestly believe that any of them would collect on Riddick's head? Who the hell did they think they were dealing with?

**_…_****_Oh when courage takes its hold  
>You face down all the would be masters<br>And break the ties that bind your goals…_**

She intended to make it quick… a knife to the neck from behind and down he goes. Too bad he turned towards her at the last second. Fuck.

"Who the fuck?"

**_…_****_This is going to be the moment  
>Your blood wakes and fills your veins…<em>**

She only has a second to react before he fires a shot towards her. She sidesteps the bullet, and quickly drives her shiv through his throat and his spinal cord. He crumples at her feet. She feels a sting on the side of her head but doesn't have time to think about that now… now they are on the clock.

**_…_****_Stand tall with your strength defy them  
>Become your own fate…<em>**

"Nunez, what the fuck was that!" Santana calls over the comm.

She winces as his voice comes in over the comm. They weren't supposed to know yet. She had to move fast. She quickly disconnects his comm and cuts the feed. She doesn't bother with the weapons… they will just slow her down.

She can hear the others in her mind though…_His comm just cut out, someone get eyes on him!_ and they are going to be here soon, and then it will be his turn to hunt.

**_…_****_You have the chance to rise again  
>To cast the light that hides within…<em>**

She drags the body a few yards away as fast as she can. They need to think it was just one predator after all.

When she hears their footsteps running towards her she ducks behind the outcropping of rocks that she hid the body behind.

"Right here! 13H! He's supposed to be right fuckin' here!" The first merc says as he looks around. They haven't noticed the blood yet, and she uses this to her advantage to creep away in the dark. She's done her part… now it's time for Riddick to make his move.

**_…_****_To rise again  
>So cast the light that hides within…<em>**

XXX

Riddick' POV

Girly fucked up waiting so long to go in for the kill. That extra second had cost us the element of surprise, and I'd damn well let her know that later. But I'd have to say overall, girl had performed pretty well… better than I had really thought. But I can't think about that now… now, it's my turn.

I see the two mercs, see them notice the blood on the ground, and can smell the panic radiating off of them in waves. It's nauseating how quickly they are to panic. They move in back to back and begin to try and survey the area… perfect.

"So this was overkill huh? Eleven of us, too many. Yeah, know all about Riddick, right? Well maybe, you need to take that shit back!"

I slide up next to the merc who isn't talkin' and quickly shove my shiv through his throat while pulling him towards me. Can't have him fallin' back into the other merc and ruining the surprise. I can still hear the other merc talkin' to himself as I drag the body away.

"That's what you need to do the jinx off our janx, you understand me?"

"Falco?"

I'm a few yards away when I hear gunfire start to pepper the area. Too bad the idiots are shooting in the wrong direction.

"He was right here and I never even saw him!" A voice says thru the dead merc's comm. "He's not coming for the ships, man, he's come for fuckin' us now shoot!"

This illicit a chuckle out of me. "Fuckin' amateurs."

It takes me about an hour to drag the body back to the cave, but I had a feelin' it would prove useful as a distraction later on. The kid is already sitting with jackal when I get back.

"Nice trophy." She says as I drop the body near the entrance to the cave. As I step inside the smell of blood hits my nose full force.

"That extra second you waited cost you. You get hit?" I ask as I move closer to her.

She tilts her head to the side and shows me a graze along her skull. Not deep, but long. "My mark got a lucky shot off."

I growl hearing this. "You were sloppy then." She just rolls her eyes at the comment, she's too tired for verbal sparring it seems.

I walk over to her and drag her up to her feet and tilt her head so I can get a better look. "We need to clean this… it's gonna need stitches."

She turns her head to face me before yanking away from my grasp. "Won't be her first scar. Besides we don't have a med kit."

She's being stubborn, and it's annoying as hell. I yank her back towards me. "Kid, you want it to get infected? Fine, you have to deal with it. But I ain't draggin' your sick ass around when you get sick from it. So cut the crap and let's figure out how to clean this shit up."

She scowls at me momentarily before she relents. "She can get a med kit from Serenity tomorrow. She knows the vents well enough to not be detected."

I smile. "In the meantime we are gonna need to cut your hair away from it and clean it. It'll just be worse to do later when you have dirt and hair matted into it."

She sighs because she knows I'm right, but I can tell she ain't goin' to be admitting it anytime soon.

"Let's just get this over with then." She says as she hands me the shiv she had been playing with.

I laugh a little again. "I'm likin' you more agreeable attitude, maybe you should get shot more often." I poor some water on her head to clear some of the blood away and start cutting at the hair along the side of her head.

It's her turn to laugh now. "Don't get used to it… and try not to fuck up her hair."

XXX

AN: So I avoided the predator restraints, because I felt like it would be too difficult to have two people maneuvering around them (and River wouldn't want Serenity's crew accidentally stepping on one). Also, I couldn't resist giving River a "haircut," (think Natalie Dormer in Hunger Games, i.e. half head shave thing), and I needed some of her blood to end up in the cave (slight hint for the next chapter). Anyways, hope you all enjoyed the update, Til' next time ;)

Translations:

fay hwa - nonsense

jien tah duh guay - like hell


End file.
